Analysis of snake venoms by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and two-dimensional electrophoresis.

The protein composition of snake venom has been analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and high resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) with comparison of our simplified Tris/glycine/SDS (TGS) method with a commercial Tris/Tricine/SDS (TTS) gel system. SDS-PAGE suggests differences between species and similarities between related species but 2-DE indicates that the protein composition of the venoms is highly complex. The TTS system improves resolution upon 2-DE but our simplified TGS method is optimal for silver staining which, contrary to previous reports, enhances detection 100-fold.