BIOL 1406

PreLab 8c.1

What is electrophoresis?

During Lab 8a, you carried out a series of purification steps in order to isolate α-lactalbumin from the other molecules found in nonfat milk. At several points during the procedure, you saved samples of the milk fractions. Today, these milk fractions will be analyzed using SDS-PAGE, a type of electrophoresis that separates proteins based on their size.
 

Use the interactive exercise below to learn more about electrophoresis and SDS-PAGE.


 

 
 

In this lab, you will be using SDS-PAGE to separate the proteins present in the 8 milk fractions that you collected during purification of a-lactalbumin. Click the play arrow on the left to watch a short video about how to prepare, load, and run your SDS-PAGE gel.

If you have problems seeing the video, you can view it in an External Viewer
 

 

 

Your Turn
What causes molecules to migrate through a gel during electrophoresis?

 Check your answer.
What properties of the molecules moving through the gel can potentially affect their rate of migration?

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What other factors, besides the properties of the molecules moving through the gel, can potentially affect the rate of migration?

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During SDS-PAGE, what is done to reduce the number of factors that influence the migration rate of proteins through the polyacrylamide gel?

 Check your answer.
During SDS-PAGE, the rate of movement of proteins towards the is determined almost entirely by . Check your answer.

 


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