Both native and denatured protein samples are assessed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). This requires the protein samples to be loaded onto polyacrylamide gels. In brief, a polyacrylamide gel, sandwiched between two glass plates (named short and long), is placed in an electrophoresis apparatus, filled with the appropriate gel running buffer, loaded with protein samples and then connected to a power source where an electric field is applied across the gel, causing the negatively-charged proteins to migrate across the gel towards the positive electrode (anode). Once the protein samples have migrated, the gel is stained to fix the protein bands and then de-stained to remove non-specific staining of the gel (background staining). These steps are essential for the analysis of protein samples.
In the current world of scientific research, the need to use high throughput technologies is ever growing. Analysis of protein samples does not stand apart from this need and requires researchers to analyse many samples all at once. To date, the polyacrylamide gels used in standard laboratories only take up 10 to 15 samples allowing sufficient amount of protein sample to be loaded and analysed. This means more and more gels need to be used to assess as many samples as relevant to the research at hand. The problem then arises with regards to knowing which gel was used for loading which set of samples. One could make some sort of distinction between two gels by running the protein marker in different lanes but this complicates things when you have more and more gels. Also, different percentage gels are used for proteins of varying molecular weight. How would you distinguish which gel was which and at what percentage when you are dealing with a number of gels at once?
The method presented here is ideal for high throughput labs and any other laboratory which runs with precision and wants to operate with an ease of mind with regards to data obtained, eliminating ambiguity or doubt about tracking results obtained by gel electrophoresis.