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Updated: Jun 27, 2025

Staining of Proteins in Gels with Coomassie G-250 without Organic Solvent and Acetic Acid
Published on: August 14, 2009
Microwave-assisted and methanol/acetic acid-free method for rapid staining of proteins in SDS-PAGE gels
Jinzhong Wang1, Zhaoyang Wang2, Wei Zhao2
1TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin, 300457, China; Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Ministry of Education, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin, 300457, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin, 300457, China.
Abstract:
We describe a microwave-assisted, methanol and acetic acid-free, inexpensive method for rapid staining of SDS-PAGE proteins. Only citric acid, benzoic acid, and Coomassie brilliant blue G-250 (CBG) were used. Microwave irradiation reduced the detection duration, and proteins in a clear background were visualized within 30 min of destaining, after 2 min of fixing and 12 min of staining. By using this protocol, comparable band intensities were obtained to the conventional methanol/acetic acid method.
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