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We offer a range of high-purity reagents that have been optimized for various for cell and tissue culture applications including antibiotics, amino acids and media.

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Agarose is a linear polysaccharide composed of alternating residues of D- and L-galactose that are joined by glycosidic linkages. Agarose forms gels that are both porous and resilient. These gel properties provide a sieving matrix, which allows the electrophoretic separation of charged macromolecules, such as DNA or RNA, according to size. Compared to polyacrylamide gel, agarose has a lower resolution but wider range of separation. Lower grades of agarose can be contaminated with other polysaccharides, salts and proteins. Such impurities can alter the gelling/melting temperature of agarose solutions or affect the ability to use the recovered nucleic acid sample in a post-electrophoresis application.

Two buffers commonly used for DNA agarose electrophoresis are Tris-acetate with EDTA (TAE; 40mM Tris-acetate, 1mM EDTA) and Tris-borate with EDTA (TBE, 89mM Tris-borate, 2mM EDTA). Because the pH of these buffers is neutral, the phosphate backbone of DNA has a net negative charge and migrates toward the anode. TAE and TBE have different properties, which makes one more suitable than the other for a specific purpose.

To achieve the most accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis via agarose gel electrophoresis, the appropriate DNA or RNA standard is required. Fisher BioReagents provides a wide range of standards, including routine DNA ladders for quick size and quality assessment as well as Fisher Bioreagents™ exACTGene™ DNA ladders that allow for quantitative analysis.