ENTRAPMENT OF NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCING TEMPLATE IN SAMPLE MIXTURES BY ENTANGLED POLYMER NETWORKS

摘要

A capillary electrophoresis system and method of electrokinetically loading a ca pillary electrophoresis sample into a separation medium in a capillary tube in which an entangled polymer matrix is formed having the sample embedded therein. The matrix has a mesh size effective to retard movement of macromolecules such as DNA sequencing templates through the m atrix when an electric field is applied across the matrix. The entangled polymer matrix is formed by a linear polymer having a molecular weight of at least 20K Daltons. Furthermore, the inv ention includes stable denaturants useful for the electrophoresis of nucleic acids.