The identification of different structural classes of nucleic acids by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels of different concentration

Abstract

By determining the way in which the electrophoretic mobility of a nucleic acid varies when analysed across a range of gel acrylamide concentrations (gel range analysis), it is possible to group the species into one of three structural classes. These classes comprise: I, single-stranded; II, double-stranded linear; and III, double-stranded circular nucleic acids. The technique of gel range analysis provides a rapid and simple way of determining to which of these structural classes a nucleic acid belongs and would be very suitable as a preliminary analytical procedure for investigating a nucleic acid of unknown structure.