The methodological work of the year served the purpose of adaptation of originally macromolecular techniques to the separations of subcellular particles and membrane complexes. Theoretical interpretation of protein electrophoresis data led to the important insight in that regard that zone dispersion, a key element of resolving power, related to interactions with either gel fibers or walls of the vessel at capillary distances. That insight guided the development of a preparative method for large particles. Resolving power of separations was also augmented by the finding that power supply interrupted by rest periods allowing for Joule heat dissipation yielded at least a doubling of field strength, and surprisingly, that a derivatized, highly soluble agarose yielded a 4 to 5 fold increase in resolution over the conventional medium for protein separations, polyacrylamide. Automated instrumentation originally designed for gel electrophoresis had been shown last year to be applicable to large particles, replacing gels by concentrated polymer solutions. This technique has now been transformed into a preparative one for subcellular-sized particles. The wide applicability of the automated gel electrophoresis technique has also been advanced during the previous year by demonstration of its applicability to native, non-fluorescently labeled, particles. The originally poor detection sensitivity of that method has now been greatly improved by use of the fluorescence enhancer, salicylate, to control and maximize the level of the baseline for detection by """"""""fluorescence reduction"""""""".
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