Apparatus for gel electrophoresis.

摘要

In an apparatus for gel electrophoresis, a sample of fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments is caused to migrate by electrophoresis through a gel electrolyte layer in an electrophoresis plate 7 from top to bottom, thereby separating the sample into individual DNA fragments. A laser beam is launched horizontally into said electrolyte layer from one side of the electrophoresis plate 7 in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said electrophoresis plate. The emitted fluorescenses are detected to determine the base sequences of the respective DNAs. A mirror 18 for reflecting fluorescenses is provided at the back of the electrophoresis plate 7 in such a way that it is parallel to the direction of laser beam application. The fluorescences reflected by this mirror 18 are received by a fluorescense detector 22 such as a CCD sensor or MOS linear image sensor. In one embodiment, the mirror 18 is inclined by an angle of 45 DEG with the electrophoresis plate 7 in such a way that it reflects the incident fluorescences upward, and the fluorescence detector 22 is positioned above the mirror 18 along the electrophoresis plate 7. In another embodiment, Texas Red having an excitation maximum wavelength of 596 nm and an emission maximum wavelength of 615 nm is used as the fluorophore and a He-Ne laser operating at a wavelength of 594 nm is used as a light source 10. <IMAGE>