Dear Crystallographers:
just to share something I found out recently, that is really helpful to
know:
5 min Copper Stain protocol
Normal SDS-PAGE gels can be stained in 5 min with 300mM CuCl2. Simply remove
the gel, rinse ~10s in water, place 5 min in CuCl2, and the gel is
negatively stained, with protein bands appearing clear, and background
opaque white. To visualize, I put it on a flatbed scanner in a darkened
room. It works in my hands every bit as well as coomassie (at least as
sensitive, if not more), and if you want, you can stain afterwards in
coomassie with the usual effect. To destain, place gel in EDTA. The original
paper is Lee et al, Anal. Biochem. 1987. Instead of waiting hours, you can
see the results in 5 min with copper! Also, there is no smell, and it can be
re-used, to a point. Gels are stable in H2O for months, say Lee et al.
Jacob
p.s. I am not in copper comodities...
p.p.s. if anybody knows of down-sides to this, please let me know.
