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Size Exclusion(SEC/GFC) / Ion Exchange Media / IMAC Media
/ Activated Media / Affinity Chromatography
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Agarose is a polysaccharide, generally extracted from certain red seaweed.[1] It is a linear polymer made up of the repeating unit of agarobiose, which is a disaccharide made
up of D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-L-galactopyranose.[2] Agarose is one of the two principal components of agar, and is purified from agar by removing agar's other component, agaropectin.[3]
Agarose is frequently used in molecular biology for the separation of large molecules, especially DNA, by electrophoresis. Slabs of agarose gels (usually 0.7 - 2%) for electrophoresis are readily prepared by pouring the warm, liquid solution into a mold. A wide range of different agaroses of varying molecular
weights and properties are commercially available for this purpose. Agarose may also be formed into beads and used in a number of chromatographic methods for protein purification.
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Protein purification
Agarose is a preferred matrix for work with proteins and nucleic
acids as it has a broad
range of physical, chemical and thermal stability, and its lower degree of chemical complexity also makes it less likely to interact with biomolecules.
Agarose is most commonly used as the medium for analytical scale electrophoretic separation
in agarose gel electrophoresis.
Gels made from purified agarose have a relatively large pore size, making them useful for separation of large molecules, such as proteins and protein complexes >200 kilodaltons, as well as DNA fragments >100 basepairs. Agarose is also used widely for a number of other applications, for example immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis,
as the agarose fibers functions as an anchor for immunocomplexes.
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