Determination of bacteriophage genome size by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

Methods Mol Biol. 2009:502:19-25. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-565-1_3.

Abstract

Standard agarose gel electrophoresis is extensively used to resolve DNA fragments from 0.2 to 40-50 kb. Larger fragments of genomic DNA or whole viral genomes can only effectively be resolved by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), which extends the range of molecular separation from 200 bp to 12 Mb.

MeSH terms

  • Bacteriophages / genetics*
  • Electrophoresis, Agar Gel
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / methods*
  • Genome, Viral / genetics*