We are trying to elute native protein bands by passive elution due to unavailability of an electroelution device. How can the gel be preserved if the gels cannot be used for elution immediately?
before Western blot became the standard method, some people preserved their gels by wrapping the gel between two sheets of Saran-Wrap. The idea is pull the sheets so flat that there are no wrinkles or bubbles left, while the Saran-Wrap is covers the the front and back of the gel . The goal is to keep the two sheets straightened out from all sides. You leave the gel at room temperature, the water will evaporate and you'll end up with a dry gel wrapped in plastic. I think somebody might have written a protocol for it, I'll look it up.
The other option is using a gel drier but the results are not so nice.
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#SDS_PAGE, #gel; #drying; #gel preservation; #cellophane
You could also prevent the growth of microbes on the gel by adding 0.02% w/v sodium azide before sealing the wrap.
You can also wrap the gel with plastic bands and store at 4 °C. Some do store in certain buffers like the TAE but that's quite risky as the sample may leak into the buffer solution
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