ELECTROPHORETIC MOBILITY OF DNA IN GELS .2. SYSTEMATIC EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY IN AGAROSE GELS

A systematic study has been undertaken to prove or disprove the predictions of a revised reptation model, biased reptation with fluctuations (BRF). Our data, which scan about two orders of magnitude of DNA sizes and of electric fields, and a fourfold range of gel concentrations, are in qualitative and quantitative agreement with the model and support the applicability of this theory to DNA gel electrophoresis. In particular, we show that the mobility in the compression zone scales as the first power of the electric field, and that the limit of separation scales as the inverse first power of the electric field, for low enough fields. (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.