TBE [1x powder sachet]

TBE appears as white instant granules. Each pouch makes 1L of 1x TBE solution conveniently with a simple procedure. TBE is composed of Tris, boric acid and EDTA. The final concentration of the 1x solution is 89mM Tris, 89mM boric acid and 2mM EDTA.

TBE buffer is a nucleic acid electrophoresis buffer commonly used in biology labs. It is mainly used in agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA. It has a good buffering capacity and shows good results when separating DNA fragments smaller than 1kb. It is also suitable for long-time electrophoresis. TBE buffer has a high electroosmosis effect with agarose gel and forms tetrahydroxy borate complexes with the agarose through nonconvalent binding, which impairs the DNA recovery rate. Thus, TBE buffer is not recommended for recovering DNA from agarose gel after electrophoresis.

Method:
1. Put magnetic stirring beads and ~600mL distilled water into a beaker.
2. While stirring, slowly pour the whole contents from 1 pouch of TBE into the beaker; wait until everything is dissolved.
3. Add distilled water to bring the volume to 1L and 1x solution is made.
Note: the concentration of TBE working solution is usually 0.5 x. In this case, 1x working solution can be diluted before use