[Snake]

hey guys, does anyone know what will happen if i prepared the agarose gel with water instead of using the buffer to make it?

the agarose gel is used to in electrophorsis to separate the DNA.

[yolop]

Yeah, when you run the gel it will fal apart.

[Yggdrasil]

The ions in the buffer allow the gel to conduct electricity.

[Bronwen Dekker]

Is there a biological / scientific question that you would like to answer by not using the normal electrophoresis buffer? The reason I ask, is that it might be that you could get the question answered by using a different buffer / electrophoretic conditions / different separation method.

[chiralic]

what will happen if i prepared the agarose gel with water instead of using the buffer to make it?

Is there a biological / scientific question that you would like to answer by not using the normal electrophoresis buffer? The reason I ask, is that it might be that you could get the question answered by using a different buffer / electrophoretic conditions / different separation method.

Gels made in water will solidify clearer than gels made with buffer

[Bronwen Dekker]

When I was talking about answering a scientific question, I meant a scientific question regarding the DNA rather than the gel. 

... and the specific question that came to mind related to the 'strandness' of the DNA, i.e. is it single or double-stranded...

See: http://www.natureprotocols.com/2007/01/25/twodimensional_strandnessdepen.php for an example.

I realise that it is probably a sidetrack from the original question, but thought there might have had a reason for wanting to try different separation conditions.