Good day steemians, today I discovered something new while I was surfing the net, it’s a method used in protein separation and its called Gel Electrophoresis.
Definition:
This is the separation method used in division or rather separation and analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins into their fragments or into smaller divisions based on size and charge, using gel and electrical charge.
This method uses an electric field to separate nucleic acid molecules in a method called sieving because the shorter molecules tend to move faster through the gel than the larger ones.
Lets define the terms involved in this process.
Gel:
A gel is a semi-solid like material used to separate micro molecules, mostly used in the production of medicinal and cosmetics.
Electrophoresis
This is a process of separating molecules based on their various sizes, molecules such as DNA can move through gels made of agar or polyacrylamide if an electric field is introduced.
So from my findings, gel electrophoresis allows us the abilities of finding out the identity of bodies that cannot be identified merely by taking a look, this means even bodies that have been burnt beyond recognition or as the case may be can be identified by this process and it goes as far as separating multiple fingerprints.
Here are a few of its uses I couldn’t but notice:
Forensics
The police and other crime investigation organisations and authorities use this process to identify both suspects and unrecognisable victims in a crime scene, how awesome would that be if it was available here in Nigeria.
1. DNA identification
When people decide to run away from their responsibility, like here in Nigeria where few fathers decide to run away from their own kids, or rather claim ownership of children that are biologically not theirs, gel electrophoresis provides a way out of this situation aas it can be used to tell if both parent and child carry the same DNA, and are related even down to unborn children.
2. Disease prediction
Also from my findings, I could not but notice that in the future to come, gel electrophoresis would possibly allow scientists the ability to predict possible diseases an individual might ecounter in the course of his/her life and find out a way to treat it or avoid its existence.
Due to the length of the post, I will be explaining the procedure in my next post, I hope you follow.
Sources:
sleuth
Wikipedia
Science Learning Hub
Nature
Thanks for taking your time to go through my work, i remain you humble and loyal girl who is just trying to make common sense
