Device and method for the electrophoretic separation of macromolecules

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The invention relates to an electrophoresis device and an electrophoresis method for the separation of macromolecules and the use of this device.
Electrophoresis devices are known for separating macromolecules from a substance, for example, separating polypeptides or nucleic acids, where the separation takes place according to the molecular weight or the structural characteristics.
Recently, methods have also become known which permit the separating of very large nucleic acid molecules or even intact chromosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), for example, of yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).
These methods include, for example, the "Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis" (PFGE) described, for example, in U.
S.
Pat.
No.
4,473,452, and the "Orthogonal Field Alternation Gel Electrophoresis" (OFAGE) described by Carle & Olson in Nucl Acids Res.
12, 5647-5664, 1984).
It is also possible to use these methods for the analysis of chromosomal fragments, for example, of the human (Ragoussis et al, EBs Lett.
204, 1-4, 1986; Lawrance et al, Science 235, 1387-1390, 1987).
Both the PFGE and the OFAGE utilize the fact that large nucleic acid molecules apparently must first orient themselves in an electric field before they will be able to start travelling.
The duration of this orientation phase is probably directly proportional to the length of the nucleic acid molecules (Smith et al, "Meth.
Enzymol.
", in the printing process, 1987).
In the PFGE and the OFAGE, two non-homogeneous electric fields, alternating at an obtuse angle (via electronic circuits), act upon the macromolecules.
As a result, in an alternating manner, the macromolecules must first reorient themselves in the one electric field and then in the second electric field before they can travel in the direction of the respective anode.
However, a significant disadvantage of this method is the fact that the field intensities of the two non-homogeneous fields are identical only for the specimen located in the center.
As a result, it is difficult to compare the mobilities of macromolecules in different specimens