A COMPUTER-SIMULATION OF TRAPPING ELECTROPHORESIS

The gel electrophoretic migration of streptavidin-DNA complexes is severely altered by the phenomenon known as "trapping electrophoresis." We present a first computer simulation study of this process. Our simulations use the very efficient biased reptation algorithm. The steady state is characterized by a large increase in band broadening and interband separation. However, we also find that for a narrow range of molecular sizes, the separation power of gel electrophoresis is greatly increased. We discuss the implications of our findings for the possible improvement of DNA sequencing technologies.