Tricine is the most used electrophoresis buffer, which has a lower negative charge than glycine. This in turn helps it to migrate faster. Tricine is also used for the resuspension of cell pellets. Moreover, its high ionic strength leads to more movement of ions and less protein movement. This aids to separate low molecular weight proteins in lower percent acrylamide gels. Tricine is also used as a trailing ion that helps in the resolution of small proteins at lower acrylamide concentrations compared to glycine-sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) systems.
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