Bio-Rad Whole Gel Eluter and Mini Whole Gel Eluter - Manual (Page 14)

Manual Harvesting
1. If a vacuum harvester is not available, eluates may be removed with the proper size
Bio-Rad Disposable Plastic Transfer Pipet (DPTP). The numbered harvest ports on the
right side of the eluter are used for manual aspiration of samples. The mini format eluter
requires Bio-Rad DPTP style M (catalog number 223-9563) and the large format eluter
requires Bio-Rad DPTP style D (catalog number 223-9523).
Eluates are collected manually with a Disposable Plastic Transfer Pipet (DPTP).
Section 4
Optimizing Conditions
4.1 Buffer Selection
SDS-PAGE or Native PAGE preparative gels can be eluted on the Whole Gel Eluter
using denaturing (SDS) or non-denaturing elution buffer systems. Virtually any buffer can
be used if it proves appropriate for the proteins under investigation, which must be deter-
mined empirically. Buffers used for elution are not limited to those described in the fol-
lowing sections.
SDS-PAGE
Preparative SDS-PAGE gels can be eluted with either a denaturing or non-denaturing
buffer. The advantage of using a non-denaturing buffer is that the electro-elution process
strips much of the SDS off the proteins, leaving proteins in a non-toxic buffer that can be
used directly in a cellular assay. See the Table in Section 7.4 for a list of non-denaturing elu-
tion buffers. The addition of SDS to the elution buffers has the advantage of preventing pro-
teins from adhering to the cellophane (or dialysis) membrane and insuring complete
electro-elution of all proteins.
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