Fractionation of Ribonucleic Acids by ‘Sephadex’ Agarose Gel Electrophoresis

Abstract

THE possibility of using gel electrophoresis for the fractionation of RNA was first well illustrated by Tsanev¹, who obtained excellent separation of RNA main fractions, as well as minor components, by agar gel electrophoresis. More recently, Loening² used the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis recommended by Richards et al.³ and was able to obtain a very good separation of the two ribosomal fractions and transfer RNA in 2.2 per cent and 2.6 per cent gels and a separation of 4S and 5S RNA in 5 per cent and 7 per cent gels; this latter fractionation is not possible by agar gel electrophoresis.