Supported molecular matrix electrophoresis: a new membrane electrophoresis for characterizing glycoproteins

Protein blotting is often used for identification and characterization of proteins on a membrane to which proteins separated by gel electrophoresis are transferred. The transferring process is sometimes problematic, in particular, for mucins and proteoglycans. Here, we describe a novel membrane electrophoresis technique, termed supported molecular matrix electrophoresis (SMME), in which a porous polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane filter is used as the separation support. Proteins separated by this method can be immunoblotted without any transferring procedures.