Trays stain removers

Remove the gel, carefully place it in a tray or large watch glass, and cover it with methylene blue. Wear gloves when handling stain. Stain for at least 30 min. Overnight is fine. 

Run the slab gel in a vertical dimension. The current should be set at 25-30 mA per slab gel. Allow the electrophoresis to proceed until the tracking dye is at the bottom of the gel. Turn the power off and remove the gels from the buffer chambers. Carefully separate the sandwiched plates with a thin spatula and transfer the gel in one piece to a tray containing staining solution. 

Alternatively, the waste volume can be minimized by the addition of paper tissue to one corner of the staining tray. Coomassie brilliant blue is removed from the gel without changing the destaining solution, minimizing the waste volume generated. The tissues are replaced when they are saturated with Coomassie brilliant blue. Caution should be used, however, because excessive destaining will lead to loss of band intensity. 

Store the solution in a stoppered glass bottle away from light. Pour a small volume of TC-1 into the tray or vessel to be cleaned. Slosh it around so that the solution has access to all parts of the tray then pour the solution out and wash the tray thoroughly with water until all traces of the cleaner disappear. This solution will remove stains caused by oxidation products of developers as well as some silver and dye stains. It should not be used to clean hands. 

To remove stains in trays from silver, silver sulfide, and many dyes, pour a small quantity of Solution A into the tray and allow to remain for a few minutes rinse well and then replace with a similar volume of Solution B. Agitate to clear the brown stain completely then wash thoroughly. 

Remove the gel from its bed and totally submerse it in a tray containing diluted Methylene Blue Plus stain. Do not stain gels in the electrophoresis apparatus. 

Once the slide has been prepared, it is best stained on a staining rack over a tray. The slide should be flooded with sufficient stain to avoid drying out during the period of application. Once the staining process is finished, excess liquid may be removed with blotting paper. A wide variety of stains are available, and only the most common or useful will be considered. The structures of some of these are shown in Figure 4.1. 

Pour the running buffer into a beaker. Remove the gel and gel tray and place them on a UV transilluminator (see Note 17). DNA stained with ethidium bromide fluoresces orange under UV light. Photograph as required (see Note 18). 

Rinse slides very carefully with PBS to remove Tissue-Tek. Place on the smallest box or tray that will fit the number of slides to be stained. 

After the stacking gel is removed (Subheading 3.2.1, step 7), carefully peel the gel ftom the plate and fully submerge it in Coomassie stain in a plastic tray. Place the tray in a microwave see Note 31) and microwave on high for 10 s. Open the micro-wave and gently rock the tray. Repeat this two more times. 

Allow the gel to incubate at room temperature in a fume hood for 10 min then pour the Coomassie stain back into a bottle see Note 32). Rinse the gel and tray with ddH20 to remove excess dye, then add destaining solution and a piece of foam sponge or low-lint wipe (re Note 33). 

Carefully remove the gel from the plastic or glass plates using clean gloves and transfer it into a clean staining tray containing distilled water. 

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