Tag: bio-chemistry

Ultracentrifugation is a primary technique used to isolate cellular organelles and protein fractions based on their sedimentation rates, which are determined by size and density.

Sucrose is a common solute used to create density gradients in centrifugation because it is highly soluble, relatively inert, and can form a wide range of densities.

Cesium chloride (CsCl) is the standard salt used to create self-forming density gradients for the separation of nucleic acids like DNA during ultracentrifugation.

Glycogen is the primary storage polysaccharide in animals, whereas plants store energy primarily as starch. Finding glycogen is a strong indicator of an animal cell source.

Ribosomes are very small cellular components that require very high centrifugal forces, typically around 300,000g, to sediment effectively from a cell homogenate.

Differential centrifugation is the standard method for separating cellular components based on their size and density by applying increasing centrifugal forces.

Buoyant density centrifugation (equilibrium centrifugation) requires long run times, often 20 hours or more, at high speeds (like 100,000g) to allow the particles to reach their isopycnic position in the gradient.

Analytical ultracentrifugation is a classic and precise method for determining the molecular weight and shape of proteins in solution.

Mitochondria are relatively large organelles that sediment at intermediate speeds, typically around 8,000g to 10,000g in a differential centrifugation protocol.