Agarose - Biotechnology Definitions (A)

Agarose is a polysaccharide (sugar) gelatinous substance obtained from seaweed and used as a solidifying agent (agar)in a microbial culture. It is also used in gel electrophoresis. Historically it is used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Japan, but in the past century has found extensive use as a solid substrate to contain culture medium for microbiological work. The gelling agent is an unbranched polysaccharide obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from the genera Gelidium and Gracilaria, or seaweed (Sphaerococcus euchema). Commercially it is derived primarily from Gelidium amansii.