Sodium Borate Fast Electrophoresis Buffer (SBE Buffer) is optimized for high resolution separation of low molecular weight DNA fragments (10 to 3000 bp), or single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) oligomers or RNA on agarose or polyacrymide gels. It is an excellent alternative to traditional TBE (TRIS borate-EDTA) and TAE (TRIS acetate-EDTA) electrophoresis buffers. SBE buffer allows for higher voltage runs, extremely rapid running times, and high-resolution band separation.
1X working SBE buffer can be prepared by diluting 50 ml of 20X SBE stock solution with 950 ml ddH2O. A voltage of 120 V is recommended for small electrophoresis chambers while a mid to large apparatus may be run at 200-250 V. It is recommended that the user test their chamber to determine optimal voltage. Agarose gels should be prepared using 1X SBE Buffer. Gels prepared with TAE/TBE buffer may not be compatible with SBE buffer.
SBE buffer is compatible with DNA staining using GRGreen or Ethidium Bromide, and downstream purification steps using Qiagen Gel Purification kit.
Gel image shows separation of 100bp ladder and 1kb ladder using SBE buffer. DNA was stained with GRGreen.
