Zone electrophoresis BIPLOB DEY Shri Guru Ram Rai University,Dehradun

1. PRESENTED BY
BIPLOB DEY
M.Pharm( Pharmacology)
SGRRU

2. Electrophoresis is a technique used to separate macromolecules based on size. This
technique is used for separation of proteins, DNA and RNA .
Electrophoresis of positively charged particles (cations) is called cataphoresis,
while electrophoresis of negatively charged particles (anions) is
called anaphoresis.
Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) has a clearer resolution than agarose
and is more suitable for quantitative analysis. In this technique DNA foot-printing
can identify how proteins bind to DNA. It can be used to separate proteins by size,
density and purity. It can also be used for plasmid analysis, which develops our
understanding of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.

4. Electrophoresis can be classified as free electrophoresis
and zone electrophoresis:
A. Free Electrophoresis:
 In this type of electrophoresis a free electrolyte is taken in place of
supporting media. Nowadays this type of electrophoresis has
become out dated and mostly used in non-biological experiments.
 It is mostly of two types―
The micro-electrophoresis which is mostly used in calculation of
Zeta potentials (a colloidal property of cells in a liquid medium) of
the cells .
Moving boundary electrophoresis used for quantitative analysis of
complex mixtures of macromolecules, especially proteins.
B. Zone Electrophoresis:
 This is the most prevalent electrophoretic technique. In this type of
electrophoresis the separation process is carried out on a stabilizing
media.

5. The zone electrophoresis is of following types;
(a) Paper electrophoresis
(b) Cellulose acetate electrophoresis
(c) Capillary electrophoresis
(d) Gel electrophoresis – which further includes:
 Agarose gel electrophoresis,
 SDS PAGE,
 two-dimensional electrophoresis.

6.  Any electrophoretic technique in which components are separated
into zones orbands in a buffer, and stabilized in solid, porous, or any
other support medium–eg: filter paper
agar gel,
or polyacrylamide gel..
 Zone electrophoresis: Here the charged particles are separated into
different zones or bands.
 This is mainly of two types as:
Paper electrophoresis.
Gel electrophoresis.

8.  APPLICATIONS OF ELECTROPHORESIS:
1.To separate complex molecules: Many complex biological
molecules like vitamins B12. antibiotics, proteins can be separated
efficiently by electrophoresis. This is possible due to charge
difference among the mixtures.
2. For analysis of nucleic acid molecules like RNA and DNA studies.
These long chain molecules can be analyzed only after separation
after electrophoresis. This helps to determine the size or breaks in
the DNA or RNA molecule.