Question

The migration of a protein in an agarose gel depends mostly on the of the protein.

Please give correct answer and an explanation why. Thank you.

Answer 1

Charge of the protein molecules

Gel electrophoresis is used to separatemacromolecules like DNA, RNA and proteins.

DNA fragments are separated according to their size.

Proteins can be separated according to their size and their charge (different proteins have different charges)

Shorter molecules move faster and migrate farther than longer ones because shorter molecules migrate more easily through the pores of the gel. This phenomenon is called sieving.

Proteins are separated by charge in agarose because the pores of the gel are too large to sieveproteins.

In agarose gel electrophoresis, proteins with a strong negative charge move fastest towards the positive side of the gel, whereas positively charged proteins move in the opposite direction.

This technique might be used to separate proteins that have the same molecular weight but different charges, or when size is not important.