Negative Gold Staining for Electrophoretic Protein Profile Interpretations

Abstract

A simple method was described for negative gold staining of ultrathinlayer polyacrylamide gels. The protein bands were clear (unstained) and sharp while the gel matrix was pink-purple.Negative gold staining was up to five-fold more sensitive than coomassie blue, but an order of magnitude less sensitive than silver staining for protein detection.However, there were examples where negative gold staining was able to detect particular proteins not effectively stained by coomassie blue or silver.

Sensitivity and mass accuracy for proteins analyzed directly from polyacrylamide gels: Implications for proteome mapping

“…They were subsequently washed with a solution containing 20 mM Tris and 500 mM NaCl (pH 7.5) for about 20 min followed by two more washes in water for about 5 min. They were then soaked in Bio-Rad aurodye for 2-18 h. Colloidal gold staining of SDS gels was based on the procedures of Budowle et al [51] and Casero ef al. [52].…”