Detection and recovery of proteins from gels following zinc chloride staining

This report describes a method for detecting proteins in SDS polyacrylamide gels using ZnCl2 and their recovery using passive elution. Washing unfixed gels in a dilute solution of ZnCl2 produces two desirable effects. First, it makes the proteins easily visible as clear zones in a white background, and second, it prevents loss of proteins due to diffusion into the wash solution. Compared to other commonly used methods of protein detection such as Coomassie, KCl, copper or silver staining, the zinc stain offers some distinct advantages. Zinc staining can be completed in 15 min for most applications, making it much faster than Coomassie or most silver stains. The zinc stain is more sensitive than Coomassie, KCl or copper stain. Since no harsh chemical conditions are used in the zinc staining procedure, recovery of proteins from the gel is facilitated. More than 90% of selected proteins were recovered from 2-D gels by simple elution from the gel pieces with a buffer containing 10 mM EDTA.