DNA strands can be separated into bands by electrophoresis in agarose gel. Efficient separation depends on the size of the DNA strands and the percent agarose in the gel.
Efficient Range of Separation of Linear DNA Molecules
percent agarose in gel as weight per volume
lower end of range
upper end of range
0.3%
5,000 base pairs
60,000 base pairs
0.6%
1,000 base pairs
20,000 base pairs
0.7%
800 base pairs
10,000 base pairs
0.9%
500 base pairs
7,000 base pairs
1.2%
400 base pairs
6,000 base pairs
1.5%
200 base pairs
3,000 base pairs
2.0%
100 base pairs
2,000 base pairs
This data was analyzed in JMP. Since Figure 6.1 shows separation based on LOG10 of the DNA base pairs, the line approximations were done using percent vs LOG10 of the base pairs.