Agarose gel concentration

The percentage of agarose used depends on the size of fragments to be resolved. The concentration
of agarose is referred to as a percentage of agarose to volume of buffer (w/v), and agarose gels are
normally in the range of 0.2% to 3% (Smith, 1993). The lower the concentration of agarose, the
faster the DNA fragments migrate. In general, if the aim is to separate large DNA fragments, a low
concentration od agarose should be used, and if the aim is to separate small DNA fragments, a high
concentration of agarose is recommended (Table 3).

Concentration of agarose (%) DNA size range (bp)

0.2 5000-40000
0.4 5000-30000
0.6 3000-10000
0.8 1000-7000
1 500-5000
1.5 300-3000
2 200-1500
3 100-1000
Table 3. Agarose gel concentration for resolving linear DNA molecules.