DNA orientation during gel electrophoresis and its relation to electrophoretic mobility

Intensities of polarized fluorescence from ethidium bound to phage λ DNA undergoing agarose gel electrophoresis were measured. The intensities were strongly field dependent at voltage gradients of 8 V/cm, consistent with a partial orientation of DNA helices in the direction of electrophoresis about 500 times larger than seen in the same field in solution. Such an orientation was predicted by a reptation model of gel electrophoresis advanced by Lumpkin et al. [(1985) Biopolymers , 24 , 1573–1593]. The present results can be fit successfully to this theory with a single adjustable parameter, the gel–DNA contact distance. Also, λ DNA electrophoretic mobilities in the same concentration gel were determined using the same buffer system. Both orientation and mobility measurements can be fit to the reptation theory within a factor of two using the same values of two parameters, the gel–DNA contact distance and the ratio of DNA charge to frictional coefficient.