5% agarose - (May/12/2010 )

What s the best way to make a 5% agarose gel?

the same way you would make a 1% agarose gel but use more agarose (5gm agarose/100ml).

but, why would you want to make a 5% agarose gel.

Why not just use a low percentage polyacrylamide gel?

A 5% agarose gel will not work well for small fragment separation. Instead, use NuSieve 3:1 or Metaphor agarose at 3%, or use PAGE, as suggested above.

i realise PAGE is the best option, but I dont have the casting trays for an acrylamide gel and trying to find the cheapest and easiest way to resolve 20bp - 250bp. I tried a 5% with the usual way of making an agarose gel, it works fine till 50bp below which the bands are not sharp... I will look into the options you mentioned!
Thanks a lot!