Ultra-Fast DNA Separations Using Capillary Electrophoresis

For decades electrophoresis, together with chromatography and centrifugation, has been one of the most important tools in biochemistry and biology. Size selective separations using synthetic polyacrylamide sieving gels (SDS-PAGE) (1 ), development of the two dimensional electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) (2 ) together with the use of the polyacrylamide gels for DNA sequencing (3 , 4 ) revolutionized the field of bio-separations (5 -7 ). At present, slab-gel electrophoresis is the most frequently used technique for analysis of proteins and DNA. At the same time, it is also laborious and relatively slow since only low electric field strength can be applied without excessive Joule heating. Numerous efforts to increase the separation speed have been taken, typically applying very thin gel slabs, allowing higher electric field strength during the separation.