SDS-PAGE
SDS-PAGE stands for sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
(PAGE) and is useful for molecular weight analysis of proteins. SDS is a detergent
that dissociates and unfolds oligomeric proteins into its subunits. The SDS binds
to the polypeptides to form complexes with fairly constant charge to mass ratios.
The electrophoretic migration rate through a gel is therefore determined only
by the size of the complexes. Molecular weights are determined by simultaneously
running marker proteins of known molecular weight.