Question

All of the following substances are present in a typical procedure for separating proteins by gel electrophoresis except

• A. Water
• B. Bromophenol blue
• C. Tris buffer
• D. Agarose
• E. Polyacrylamide

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Agarose

Electrophoretic separation of proteins is performed in polyacrylamide gels. Proteins are denatured by their treatment with SDS that dissociates multimeric proteins into their subunits and forces all polypeptides into extended conformations with the similar charge : mass ratios. A mixture of proteins is then applied to a gel under influence of electric current. Agarose gel is used for nucleic acids. Thus, the correct answer is option D.