Agarose, additives, buffers and pre made solutions

Synergel is a novel gelling and sieving agent that dramatically improves the performance of agarose gels. Synergel consists of a modified polysaccaride which, when combined with agarose, forms a hydrogen-bonded binary gel system. This type of gel is easily constituted by weighing out the Synergel and agarose powders, dissolving them by boiling in buffer and pouring out the gel, which sets at approximately the same temperature, but somewhat more rapidly than agarose alone. Phosphate or acetate buffered Tris-EDTA may be used in forming the gel. Compared to simple agarose, the Synergel-agarose gel is stronger, more elastic, more transparent, and exhibits better resolution of closely spaced DNA bands.

Loading dye increases the density of the sample and adds colour to the sample, thereby simplifying the loading process. The solution contains dyes that, in an electric field, move toward the anode at predictable rates. In 1% agarose gels, bromophenol blue migrates with 300bp linear double stranded DNA fragments, whereas xylene cyanol FF migrates at approximately the same rate as linear double stranded DNA 4kb length

AgarMate is an inert polysaccharide which when combined with agar, forms an improved gel for cell culture and general bacteriological use.

The special properties of AgarMate reduce the inherent turbidity of conventional nutrient agar gels, thereby facilitating visualization of opalescent colonies, growth inhibition zones and lytic plaques.

Molecular association between the AgarMate galactomannan and agar polymers produces a strengthened and more elastic gel and simultaneously reduces the undesireable tendency of agar gels to release free water as the gel cools and contracts during storage.

AgarMate has been tested in bacteriological and cell culture research and diagnostic applications by the Difco and Sigma laboratories. A wide range of gram negative and positive bacteria, bacteriophage, DNA transformed gels and eucaryotic cells (including plant cultures) have been propagated on AgarMate containing gelled media.