History of electrophoresis
Encyclopedia
The history of electrophoresis begins in earnest with the work of Arne Tiselius
in the 1930s, and new separation process
es and chemical analysis techniques based on electrophoresis
continue to be developed into the 21st century. Tiselius, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation
, developed the "Tiselius apparatus" for moving boundary electrophoresis
, which was described in 1937 in the well-known paper "A New Apparatus for Electrophoretic Analysis of Colloidal Mixtures". The method spread slowly until the advent of effective zone electrophoresis methods in the 1940s and 1950s, which used filter paper
or gel
s as supporting media. By the 1960s, increasingly sophisticated gel electrophoresis
methods made it possible to separate biological based on minute physical and chemical differences, helping to drive the rise of molecular biology
. Gel electrophoresis and related techniques became the basis for a wide range of biochemical methods, such as protein fingerprinting
, Southern blot
and similar blotting procedures, DNA sequencing
, and many more.
proposed in the late 18th century and other early electrochemistry
. Experiments by Johann Wilhelm Hittorf
, Walther Nernst
, and Friedrich Kohlrausch
to measure the properties and behavior of small ions moving through aqueous solution
s under the influence of an electric field
led to general mathematical descriptions of the electrochemistry of aqueous solutions. Kohlrausch created equations for varying concentrations of charged particles moving through solution, including sharp moving boundaries of migrating particles. By the beginning of the 20th century, electrochemists had found that such moving boundaries of charged particles could be created with U-shaped glass tubes.
Methods of optical detection of moving boundaries in liquids had been developed by August Toepler
in the 1860s; Toepler measured the schlieren
(shadows) or slight variations in optical properties that in inhomogeneous solutions. This method combined with the theoretical and experimental methods for creating and analysing charged moving boundaries would form the basis of Tiselius's moving boundary electrophoresis
method.
of the Tiselius apparatus, which was not capable of completely separating electrophoretically similar compounds. Rather than charged molecules moving freely through solutions, the new methods used solid or gel matrices to separate compounds into discrete and stable bands (zones); in 1950 Tiselius dubbed these methods "zone electrophoresis".
Zone electrophesis found widespread application in biochemistry after Oliver Smithies
introduced starch
gel as an electrophoretic substrate in 1955. Starch gel (and later polyacrylamide
and other gels) enabled the efficient separation of proteins, making it possible with relatively simple technology to analyze complex protein mixtures and identify minute differences in related proteins.
Arne Tiselius
Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius was a Swedish biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1948.- Biography:Tiselius was born in Stockholm...
in the 1930s, and new separation process
Separation process
In chemistry and chemical engineering, a separation process, or simply a separation, is any mass transfer process used to convert a mixture of substances into two or more distinct product mixtures, at least one of which is enriched in one or more of the mixture's constituents. In some cases, a...
es and chemical analysis techniques based on electrophoresis
Electrophoresis
Electrophoresis, also called cataphoresis, is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric field. This electrokinetic phenomenon was observed for the first time in 1807 by Reuss , who noticed that the application of a constant electric...
continue to be developed into the 21st century. Tiselius, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, developed the "Tiselius apparatus" for moving boundary electrophoresis
Moving boundary electrophoresis
Moving-boundary electrophoresis or free-boundary electrophoresis is electrophoresis in a free solution. It was developed by Arne Tiselius in 1937...
, which was described in 1937 in the well-known paper "A New Apparatus for Electrophoretic Analysis of Colloidal Mixtures". The method spread slowly until the advent of effective zone electrophoresis methods in the 1940s and 1950s, which used filter paper
Filter paper
Filter paper is a semi-permeable paper barrier placed perpendicular to a liquid or air flow. It is used to separate fine solids from liquids or air.-Properties:Filter paper comes in various porosities and grades depending on the applications it is meant for...
or gel
Gel
A gel is a solid, jelly-like material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state...
s as supporting media. By the 1960s, increasingly sophisticated gel electrophoresis
Gel electrophoresis
Gel electrophoresis is a method used in clinical chemistry to separate proteins by charge and or size and in biochemistry and molecular biology to separate a mixed population of DNA and RNA fragments by length, to estimate the size of DNA and RNA fragments or to separate proteins by charge...
methods made it possible to separate biological based on minute physical and chemical differences, helping to drive the rise of molecular biology
History of molecular biology
The history of molecular biology begins in the 1930s with the convergence of various, previously distinct biological disciplines: biochemistry, genetics, microbiology, and virology...
. Gel electrophoresis and related techniques became the basis for a wide range of biochemical methods, such as protein fingerprinting
Protein fingerprinting
Protein fingerprinting can refer to any of the several methods for identifying or differentiating proteins:*Peptide mass fingerprinting, a method developed in 1993 that uses protein mass spectrometry following SDS-PAGE...
, Southern blot
Southern blot
A Southern blot is a method routinely used in molecular biology for detection of a specific DNA sequence in DNA samples. Southern blotting combines transfer of electrophoresis-separated DNA fragments to a filter membrane and subsequent fragment detection by probe hybridization. The method is named...
and similar blotting procedures, DNA sequencing
DNA sequencing
DNA sequencing includes several methods and technologies that are used for determining the order of the nucleotide bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a molecule of DNA....
, and many more.
Electrophoresis before Tiselius
Early work with the basic principle of electrophoresis dates to the early 19th century, based on Faraday's laws of electrolysisFaraday's laws of electrolysis
Faraday's laws of electrolysis are quantitative relationships based on the electrochemical researches published by Michael Faraday in 1834.-Statements of the laws:Several versions of the laws can be found in textbooks and the scientific literature...
proposed in the late 18th century and other early electrochemistry
History of electrochemistry
Electrochemistry, a branch of chemistry, went through several changes during its evolution from early principles related to magnets in the early 16th and 17th centuries, to complex theories involving conductivity, electrical charge and mathematical methods. The term electrochemistry was used to...
. Experiments by Johann Wilhelm Hittorf
Johann Wilhelm Hittorf
Johann Wilhelm Hittorf was a German physicist who was born in Bonn and died in Münster, Germany.Hittorf was the first to compute the electricity-carrying capacity of charged atoms and molecules , an important factor in understanding electrochemical reactions...
, Walther Nernst
Walther Nernst
Walther Hermann Nernst FRS was a German physical chemist and physicist who is known for his theories behind the calculation of chemical affinity as embodied in the third law of thermodynamics, for which he won the 1920 Nobel Prize in chemistry...
, and Friedrich Kohlrausch
Friedrich Kohlrausch
Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Kohlrausch was a German physicist who investigated the conductive properties of electrolytes and contributed to knowledge of their behaviour...
to measure the properties and behavior of small ions moving through aqueous solution
Aqueous solution
An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is usually shown in chemical equations by appending aq to the relevant formula, such as NaCl. The word aqueous means pertaining to, related to, similar to, or dissolved in water...
s under the influence of an electric field
Electric field
In physics, an electric field surrounds electrically charged particles and time-varying magnetic fields. The electric field depicts the force exerted on other electrically charged objects by the electrically charged particle the field is surrounding...
led to general mathematical descriptions of the electrochemistry of aqueous solutions. Kohlrausch created equations for varying concentrations of charged particles moving through solution, including sharp moving boundaries of migrating particles. By the beginning of the 20th century, electrochemists had found that such moving boundaries of charged particles could be created with U-shaped glass tubes.
Methods of optical detection of moving boundaries in liquids had been developed by August Toepler
August Toepler
August Joseph Ignaz Toepler was a German physicist known for his experiments in electrostatics. In 1864 he applied Foucault's knife-edge test for telescope mirrors to the analysis of fluid flow and the shock wave. He named this new method schlieren photography, for which he is justifiably famous...
in the 1860s; Toepler measured the schlieren
Schlieren
Schlieren are optical inhomogeneities in transparent material not visible to the human eye. Schlieren physics developed out of the need to produce high-quality lenses devoid of these inhomogeneities. These inhomogeneities are localized differences in optical path length that cause light deviation...
(shadows) or slight variations in optical properties that in inhomogeneous solutions. This method combined with the theoretical and experimental methods for creating and analysing charged moving boundaries would form the basis of Tiselius's moving boundary electrophoresis
Moving boundary electrophoresis
Moving-boundary electrophoresis or free-boundary electrophoresis is electrophoresis in a free solution. It was developed by Arne Tiselius in 1937...
method.
Development and spread of the Tiselius apparatus
The apparatus designed by Arne Tiselius enabled a range of new applications of electrophoresis in analyzing chemical mixtures. Its development, significantly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, was an extension of Tiselius's earlier PhD studies. With more assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation, the expensive Tiselius apparatus was built at a number of major of major centers of chemical research.Rise of zone electrophoresis
By the late 1940s, new electrophoresis methods were beginning to address some of the shortcomings of the moving boundary electrophoresisMoving boundary electrophoresis
Moving-boundary electrophoresis or free-boundary electrophoresis is electrophoresis in a free solution. It was developed by Arne Tiselius in 1937...
of the Tiselius apparatus, which was not capable of completely separating electrophoretically similar compounds. Rather than charged molecules moving freely through solutions, the new methods used solid or gel matrices to separate compounds into discrete and stable bands (zones); in 1950 Tiselius dubbed these methods "zone electrophoresis".
Zone electrophesis found widespread application in biochemistry after Oliver Smithies
Oliver Smithies
Oliver Smithies is a British-born American geneticist and Nobel laureate, credited with the invention of gel electrophoresis in 1955, and the simultaneous discovery, with Mario Capecchi and Martin Evans, of the technique of homologous recombination of transgenic DNA with genomic DNA, a much more...
introduced starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
gel as an electrophoretic substrate in 1955. Starch gel (and later polyacrylamide
Polyacrylamide
Polyacrylamide is a polymer formed from acrylamide subunits. It can be synthesized as a simple linear-chain structure or cross-linked, typically using N,N-methylenebisacrylamide. Polyacrylamide is not toxic...
and other gels) enabled the efficient separation of proteins, making it possible with relatively simple technology to analyze complex protein mixtures and identify minute differences in related proteins.
Widespread application
Since the 1950s, electrophoresis methods have diversified considerably, and new methods and applications are still being developed.See also
- ElectrophoresisElectrophoresis (journal)Electrophoresis is a scientific journal for new analytical and preparative methods and for innovative applications on all aspects of electrophoresis. It was first published in April 1980. The ISI impact factor for 2009 was 3.077....
- Journal of Electrophoresis
- History of chromatographyHistory of chromatographyThe history of chromatography spans from the mid-19th century to the 21st. Chromatography, literally "color writing", was used—and named— in the first decade of the 20th century, primarily for the separation of plant pigments such as chlorophyll and carotenoids...
- History of molecular biologyHistory of molecular biologyThe history of molecular biology begins in the 1930s with the convergence of various, previously distinct biological disciplines: biochemistry, genetics, microbiology, and virology...
- History of biochemistryHistory of biochemistryThe history of biochemistry spans approximately 400 years. Although the term “biochemistry” seems to have been first used in 1882, it is generally accepted that the word "biochemistry" was first proposed in 1903 by Carl Neuberg, a German chemist....