Technology
Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is a procedure for estimating molecular weights of polypeptides, and uses SDS, a detergent that dissociates and unfolds oligomeric proteins into its subunits. The SDS binds to the polypeptides to form complexes with fairly constant charge to mass ratios. The electrophoretic migration rate through a gel is therefore determined only by the size of the complexes.
Diagnostic Methods
Technology
Analytical and separative procedures in which molecules, particularly proteins or nucleic acids, are separated by their different electrophoretic mobilities in a hydrated gel. The gel suppresses convective mixing of the fluid phase through which the electrophoresis takes place and contributes molecular sieving. For proteins, commonly carried out in the presence of the anionic detergent sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS). SDS denatures proteins so that noncovalently associating sub unit polypeptides migrate independently and by binding to the proteins confers a net negative charge roughly proportional to the chain weight.
Diagnostic Methods