Agarose Gel Electrophoresis of Nucleic Acids

DNA fragments may be separated by gel electrophoresis in a gel composed of agarose. This allows DNA fragments to be resolved on the basis of their molecular weight. The percentage of agarose used depends on the size of fragments to be resolved. In general a 0.8–1% gel may be used for effective separation of DNA fragments of 100–1500 base pairs (1 ).