title: Improved conditions for silver-ammonia staining of DNA in polyacrylamide gel.
abstract: An improved silver-ammonia staining method for DNA on polyacrylamide gels is described. In this method, staining of DNA using silver-ammonia complex allows high sensitivity, low cost, low toxicity, and simple protocol without requiring fixation and sensitization steps. The protocol takes less than 40 min to complete, with a detection limit of 1.5 pg of single DNA band on polyacrylamide gels, approximately 30-fold higher than that of original silver-ammonia staining method. Furthermore, this novel technique not only exhibits high sensitivity for large DNA fragment, but also shows a better trend to detect low-base-pair DNA compared with other silver staining methods.
authors.affiliation: Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceuticals, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Cong
authors.forename: Hong-Zhang
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Zhong-Xin
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Cai-Xue
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Xu-Yi
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jung-Kap
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Li-Tai
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Xiao-Kun
authors.initials: XK
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000737:chemistry*; D010584:Bacteriophage phi X 174 / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D016622:Silver Staining / Q000379:methods*; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014867:Water; D012834:Silver; D000641:Ammonia; D004247:DNA