Electrophoretic Separations of Large DNA Molecules by Periodic Inversion of the Electric Field

Abstract

In gel electrophoresis, nucleic acids and protein-detergent complexes larger than a threshold size all migrate at the same rate. For DNA molecules, this effect can be overcome by the simple procedure of periodically inverting the electric field. Tuning the frequency of the field inversions from 10 to 0.01 hertz, makes it possible to resolve selectively DNA's in the size range 15 to greater than 700 kilobase pairs.