Current methods of analytical RNA electrophoresis are based on the utilization of either complicated laboratory instrumentation or toxic, carcinogenic, or expensive chemicals. We suggest here the use of classical Tris-acetate-ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (TAE) agarose gels combined with prior denaturation of RNA samples in hot formamide for the electrophoretic separation of RNA species. We present a brief comparison of the proposed TAE/formamide method with the most common 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid/formaldehyde agarose gel protocol and show that both methods produce comparable results for size determination of RNA molecules and subsequent Northern blotting of gels. In addition to purified RNA samples, the robustness of the TAE/formamide protocol is demonstrated by its suitability for the analysis of RNA quality in crude yeast cell lysates containing large amounts of proteins, DNA, and other contaminating molecules. We therefore propose the TAE/formamide agarose electrophoresis as a rapid, simple, and cheaper alternative to current methods of RNA electrophoresis. Additionally, another benefit is the reduced exposure of laboratory personnel to hazardous chemicals.

Department of Genetics and Microbiology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Vinicná 5 128 44 Prague Czech Republic

References provided by Crossref.org

Homozygous Transgenic Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Plants by Anther Culture

Identifying the Translatome of Mouse NEBD-Stage Oocytes via SSP-Profiling; A Novel Polysome Fractionation Method

Messenger RNAs of Yeast Virus-Like Elements Contain Non-templated 5' Poly(A) Leaders, and Their Expression Is Independent of eIF4E and Pab1

Transcription apparatus of the yeast virus-like elements: Architecture, function, and evolutionary origin

Major splice variants and multiple polyadenylation site utilization in mRNAs encoding human translation initiation factors eIF4E1 and eIF4E3 regulate the translational regulators?

Firefly luciferase gene contains a cryptic promoter