Prediction of DNA Separation by Capillary Electrophoresis with Polymer Additives

The paper is focused on the powerful prediction ability of the quantitative DNA sieving model in DNA separations by capillary electrophoresis, which was proposed by us previously. First, the DNA resolution can be predicted by the theory. The model predicts that the most difficult and easiest separation will be 184bp/192bp and 234bp/267bp respectively, which is consist with experimental results. Furthermore, the average relative differences of predicted and experimental resolution values (RS) for ssDNA 184b/192b or dsDNA 184bp/192bp were all smaller than 2.8% if the diffuse parameter D considered was 8 × 10-5 cm2/s. Secondly, the optimum polymer concentrations for DNA separation were also calculated by the model, and the results show that polymer concentration should be as high as possible in DNA separation. Thirdly, the sieving ability of polymer will be predicted by the model. Polymer with smaller k, a polymer parameter calculated by the model, is prior to use as DNA sieving media.