Apparatus for gel electrophoresis
First Claim
1. In an apparatus for gel electrophoresis in which a sample of fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments is caused to migrate by electrophoresis through a gel electrolyte layer in an electrophoresis plate in a first direction, thereby separating the sample into individual DNA fragments, and laser light is launched into a linear irradiation region of said gel electrolyte layer in a second direction which is generally perpendicular to said first direction with the emitted fluorescence being detected to determine the base sequence of the particular DNA, the improvement wherein a mirror for reflecting fluorescence is provided at the back of the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it is parallel to said linear irradiation region and the fluorescence reflected from said mirror is received by a separate fluorescence detector composed of a solid-state imaging device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an apparatus for gel electrophoresis in which a sample of fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments is caused to migrate by electrophoresis through a gel electrolyte layer in an electrophoresis plate from top to bottom, thereby separating the sample into individual DNA fragments, and a laser beam is launched horizontally into said electrolyte layer from one side of the electrophoresis plate in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said electrophoresis plate, with the emitted fluorescences being detected to determine the base sequences of the respective DNAS, a mirror for reflecting fluorescences is provided at the back of the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it is parallel to the direction of laser beam application, and the fluorescences reflected by this mirror are received by a fluorescence detector such as a CCD sensor or MOS linear image sensor. In one embodiment, the mirror is inclined by an angle of 45° with the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it reflects the incident fluorescences upward, and the fluorescence detector is positioned above the mirror along the electrophoresis plate. 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 the light source.
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Citations
7 Claims
- 1. In an apparatus for gel electrophoresis in which a sample of fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments is caused to migrate by electrophoresis through a gel electrolyte layer in an electrophoresis plate in a first direction, thereby separating the sample into individual DNA fragments, and laser light is launched into a linear irradiation region of said gel electrolyte layer in a second direction which is generally perpendicular to said first direction with the emitted fluorescence being detected to determine the base sequence of the particular DNA, the improvement wherein a mirror for reflecting fluorescence is provided at the back of the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it is parallel to said linear irradiation region and the fluorescence reflected from said mirror is received by a separate fluorescence detector composed of a solid-state imaging device.
Specification