Electrokinetic isolation of vesicles and ribosomes derived from Serratia marcescens

Ribosomes and vesicles derived from the bacterium Serratia marcescens were separated from each other and from solubles using density gradient electrophoresis. Transport relationships were used to determine the electrophoretic mobilities of the particles. The effects of convection, sedimentation and diffusion were found to be negligible. The electrophoretic mobility obtained for the ribosome peak is -7 x 10(-5) cm2/(V.s). Under appropriate conditions, two vesicles peaks were obtained, the first with a mobility of -4 x 10(-5) cm2/(V.s) and the second with -9 x 10(-6) cm2/(V.s). This information can be used to predict the resolution of the separands in large-scale electrophoretic separations.