Enhanced Resolution of DNA Separation Using Agarose Gel Electrophoresis Doped with Graphene Oxide

In this work, a novel agarose gel electrophoresis strategy has been developed for separation of DNA fragments by doping graphene oxide (GO) into agarose gel. The results show that the addition of GO into agarose gel significantly improved the separation resolution of DNA fragments by increasing the shift distances of both the single DNA fragments and the adjacent DNA fragments and completely eliminating the background noise derived from the diffusion of the excessive ethidium bromide (EB) dye in the gel after electrophoresis. The improved resolution of DNA fragments in GO-doped agarose gel could be attributed to the successive adsorption-desorption processes between DNA fragments and GO sheets, while the elimination of the background noise could be attributed to the adsorption of the excessive EB dye on the surface of GO sheets and high fluorescence quenching efficiency of GO. These results provide promising potential for graphene and its derivate utilized in various electrophoresis techniques for separation and detection of DAN fragments and other biomolecules.