Excellent Tank To Run Mini Gels

April 18, 2018

BlueskyReddit
The Scripps Research Institute
The Cell and Molecular Biology
Assistant Professor

Overall

Performance

Ease-of-Optimization

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Company:

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Product Name:

Mini Gel Tank

Catalog Number:

A25977

The Mini Gel Tank from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Invitrogen) id designed to run one or two mini gels. We use this system to separate proteins for further analyses by western blotting, zymography, silver staining or Coomassie staining. This tank is the best since it enables to run 2 gels side-by-side, i.e. without turning the tank around as it is required for other systems.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Protein separation within mini gels.

Starting Material

Protein solutions

Protocol Overview

Prepare the samples for protein separation. Place one or two gels into the tank. We prefer to use Bolt® Bis-Tris Plus gels since they allow to load relatively large volumes of samples (easily 70 microliters per well of 10-well minigel). Fill the tank with the SDS running buffer of your choice (MOPS, MES, or Tris-Glycine). The gels should be fully covered with the running buffer. Carefully load your samples. Cover the tank with the top attached to the power supply. Run the gel under constant voltage for 20-55 min, depending on the voltage force you choose (from 200 to 150 V). The current should be around 50 mA per gel at the starting point, go down during the running and reach 15-25 mA per gel at the end of running.

Tips

Position the tank in a way convenient for sample loading: This will prevent the necessesity of re-positioning of the tank for loading the second gel or placing the bulky top. At the beginning of the run verify that the bubbles of running buffer go upward while the sample buffer stain enters the gel.

Results Summary

At the end of run, the color front of the running buffer should reach the bottom opening in the gel. If pre-stained molecular weight markers were used, the proteins separated according to their molecular masses could be visualized across the length of the gel.

Features Summary

The Mini Gel Tank from Invitrogen (Thermo Fisher Scientific) is the best tank on the market for SDS-PAGE protein separation. Two gels could be run side-by-side. The top of the tank is foolproofed and cannot be placed in a wrong orientation. Under optimal conditions using constant voltage, protein separation could be achieved within 25-35 minutes.

DOI or PMID #

N/A

Additional Notes

The image shows the mini tank with 2 gels loaded with samples—70 microliters per well in the gel on the left and 40 microliters per lane in the gel on the right.

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Summary

The Good

The ease of gel placing into the tank. The ability to run 2 gels side-by-side. Short time of running. The tank top is foolproofed and cannot be placed in a wrong orientation.

The Bad

The unit is a little bit pricy, but the money would be well spent.

The Bottom Line

This mini gel tank is an excellent system for protein separation.

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