Smeared Bands

Band distortions are not staining artifacts, they occur during the electrophoretic run. Some of the most common causes are listed below: Particulate in the sample: Standard loading buffers are often unable to completely dissolve complex samples-  fragments of bacterial cell walls, for example, can be carried over into the well.  Particulate material in the well…

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Blotches on Gel

EC895

Blotches can be caused by overhandling of the gel, or by handling the gel without gloves. This can create uneven surfaces or protein deposits that can bind Coomassie to the gel. To minimize this problem, handle the gel as little as possible, and always with clean gloves.   This gel can be recovered in most…

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Uneven Staining

EC895

Uneven staining is almost always the result of insufficient agitation during staining.  The gel is initially more dense than the staining solution and will tend to sink to the bottom of the dish.  Some portions of the gel will have stains under them, others will not, and the gel will show darker and lighter areas…

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Faint Bands, High Background

EC887

A high background which obscures the bands, or in combination with fainter than usual bands, indicates dye binding to the gel matrix, or contamination of the matrix with a dye-binding material (most often a protein). Coomassie Blue R-250: Destaining time too short: It takes hours for the dye to completely diffuse out of the gel…

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Faint bands, low background

EC890

Faint bands over a low background with standard Coomassie Blue R-250 staining can be caused by a number of factors: (scroll down for Colloidal Coomassie troubleshooting) SDS in the staining solution:  Most users save and re-use their staining solutions.  This is fine for a couple of cycles, but over time enough SDS elutes from the…

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Coomassie Blue Stain- Troubleshooting

EC895

If your gel doesn’t look like this one, click on the problem below to find the solution: Faint bands on a low background Learn More Faint bands on a high background Learn More Uneven Staining Learn More Dark Blotches on Gel Learn More Smeared or blurred bands Learn More The ProtoGel Sample Prep Kit gives…

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