Agarose is a purified linear galactan hydrocolloid isolated from agar or agar-bearing marine algae.
- Free from DNAse and RNAse
- Soluble in water (1 g/100 ml)
- Melting point: 87,3 to 89,5 °C
Agarose is used to separate nucleic acids electrophoretically because agarose gels have larger pore sizes than cross linked acrylamide gels at low concentrations. It tends to be more solid, but less elastic, than cross-linked acrylamide gels. It is also used in immunoelectrophoresis (IEP) and double-diffusion Ouchterlony plates to demonstrate antibody-antigen reactions. Used in chromatographic separations by either beading the agarose or cross-linking it. Also to make gel plates or overlays for cells in tissue culture.
It is specially prepared to allow recovery of active DNA after separation, with minimal inhibition of restriction and ligation enzymes. Suitable for both analytical and preparative electrophoresis procedures.