This page displays and describes the "Gel Electrophoresis" interactive that is a part of Randy Russell's online portfolio. To view this interactive, you need the Shockwave Director plugin (from Macromedia) installed in your web browser. Details about this interactive (how to use it, and the project it was created for) appear lower on this page, below the electrophoresis activity.
Can you determine which of the proteins (hemoglobin, actin, myosin) are found in the liver and muscle tissue samples? Click the "Instructions" button in the upper left corner of the interactive for basic operating instructions.
I originally developed this interactive for introductory biology courses at Michigan State University. Modified forms of it are also being used in graduate level Medical Technology courses (MT 830: Concepts in Molecular Biology & MT 831: Clinical Application of Molecular Biology) at MSU that I helped produce as part of my work for MSU's Virtual University.
Note that the interactive is "data-driven", in the sense that the positions of the bands for each sample are controlled by simple numerical list variables (and are not "hard-coded" into the animation artwork). It is thus quite simple to modify the activity to support different samples with different banding patterns, enabling flexible use of the activity for a range of example cases per the course instructor's wishes.
Gel electrophoresis is used to analyze DNA or proteins. After using enzymes to cut the long DNA or protein strands, the DNA or protein. sample is placed in a "well" along the top of the jello-like gel. Next, current is applied to the gel, and the electrically charged constituents of the sample migrate through the gel towards the edge away from the wells. Strongly charged pieces tend to migrate more quickly. Also, larger pieces migrate more slowly, since they have more difficulty slipping through the gel's matrix. By comparing the banding patterns of samples with know substances, scientists can learn about the DNA or protein fragments. Repeated experiments with different enzymes that cut at different locations help scientists determine the makeup of the DNA or protein. sample.
In the version of the electrophoresis activity shown here, the goal is to determine which of the proteins (hemoglobin, actin, and myosin) are present in liver and muscle tissue samples. The tissue samples contain multiple proteins Can you determine which bands in the tissue samples, if any, match up with the proteins (indicating the presence of the protein. in the tissue)?