Influence of solid friction on polymer relaxation in gel electrophoresis.

Solid friction between a charged polymer and fixed gel points can dramatically affect polymer mobility in gel electrophoresis. The effect is present when a polymer chain is entangled over many gel points along a portion of its length, leading to significantly different behavior than predicted by conventional theory: the mobility of the chain decreases and exhibits a stronger length dependence, which separates long linear charged polymers of different molecular weights.