The Protein Man's Blog | A Discussion of Protein Research

There are a number of staining methods that can be used to detect highly glycosylated proteins on SDS gels, even at very low levels (i.e. up to a few nanograms). Some of the most commonly used stains for this purpose include the Coomassie brilliant blue stain (for proteins with limited glycosylation) and silver stain (used in cases where high sensitivity is required).

After the protein bands have been separated by electrophoresis, researchers perform a dye-binding or color-producing chemical reaction to visualize the proteins embedded within the pores of the polyacrylamide gel matrix. Some of the most popular in-gel detection methods include staining with Coomassie dye, metallic silver, and zinc.

Western blotting is a very popular and sensitive protein detection system that is routinely used for multiple areas of protein research.  The sensitivity of this detection system continues to improve with increasingly sensitive enhanced chemiluminescence systems and the increasing popularity of IR (infra-red) fluorophores and IR imaging systems:

Among all the protein staining techniques available today, most researchers around the world prefer using Coomassie dyes (also known as Coomassie brilliant blue) in visualizing electrophoresed proteins. There are a number of good reasons why they do. Here are some of them: