Agaroses

Agaroses are polysaccharide polymers composed of repeating subunits of the disaccharide agarobiose. Agarose is dissolved in water or buffer at approximately 90-100°C and hardens to a gel at around 35°C. In chemically modified agaroses, the melting and hardening temperatures can differ considerably. During hardening, the agarose molecules form helical fibers and a network of supra fibers with pores that possess a diameter of 100 to 300 nm. In molecular biology, agarose gels are mainly used for the separation of nucleic acids via gel electrophoresis as well as for protein isolation and purification. DNA molecules with lengths from approximately 50 to 25,000 base pairs can be separated using standard agarose gel electrophoresis protocols.