Pulsed field gel electrophoresis

You don't need to be Editor-In-Chief to add or edit content to WikiDoc. You can begin to add to or edit text on this WikiDoc page by clicking on the edit button at the top of this page. Next enter or edit the information that you would like to appear here. Once you are done editing, scroll down and click the Save page button at the bottom of the page.

Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (commonly abbreviated as PFGE) is a method for separating large DNA molecules, which may be used for genotyping or genetic fingerprinting.

It is labor intensive and differs from normal agarose gel electrophoresis by the use of an alternating electrical field (hence the name). Under normal electrophoresis, large nucleic acid particles (above 30-50 kb) migrate at similar rates, regardless of size. By changing the direction of the electric field frequently, much greater size resolution can be obtained. The true theoretical basis of this effect is not clearly understood (numerous models have been put forward), but generally speaking, the smaller nucleic acid pieces are able to re-orient to the new field more quickly than are larger ones. This delay in re-orientation means larger pieces end up migrating down the gel slower than smaller, more nimble ones. Frequent changing of the migration direction means that over the entire run, the movement sums to one direction. It is commonly considered a gold standard in epidemiological studies of pathogenic organisms. Subtyping has made it easier to discriminate among strains of Listeria monocytgenes and thus to link environmental or food isolates with clinical infections.

External Links

• Pulsed Field Electrophoresis for Separation of Large DNA
• Pulse-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) animation
• Simulation of PFGE for sequenced prokaryotes, as for example for E. coli and XbaIde:Pulsed-Field Elektrophorese

ja:パルスフィールドゲル電気泳動