Is there any alternative to Formamide in RNA Gel Electrophoresis? - (Nov/15/2013 )

Hi All,

Is there any alternative procedure or a chemical that can be used instead of Formamide for RNA Gel Electrophoresis?

If you are simply trying to visualize RNA, then you can do this reasonably well by denaturing the RNA in 400 mM urea, and heating to 70 degrees for 5 minutes, then loading and running it as if it were DNA. Fussier users sometimes treat the RNA with deionized glyoxal to the same effect. Recovery of RNA from the gel, and total elimination of annealing may require a formaldehyde/formamide gel system, but they are so toxic and difficult to use that I try to eliminate them. An instrument like the Bioanalyzer would be another good option.