2D DIGE vs 2D Gel
Why run 2D DIGE instead of 2D gel electrophoresis?
In 2D gel, proteins are separated by PI (isoelectric point) in IEF (1st dimension) and molecular weight in SDS PAGE (2nd dimension).
2D DIGE is an improved version of standard 2D gel electrophoresis. In addition to all the features of 2D gel, 2D DIGE labels different samples with up to 3 fluorescent tags. This allows up to 3 samples to be run on the same gel—saving cost, minimizing gel-to-gel variation, and having higher sensitivity/accuracy.

2D DIGE | Standard 2D Gel | |
Staining Method | Fluorescent Dye | Staining |
Spot Sensitivity | 0.2 ng/spot | Coomassie blue: 50 ng/spot Silver staining: 1 ng/spot Sypro Ruby: 1 ng/spot |
Number of samples per 2D gel | 3 per gel | 1 per gel |
Number of in-gel comparisons | 3 comparisons per gel | 1 comparison per 2 gels |
Spot resolution | Higher | Lower |
Reproducibility | Higher | Lower |
Advantages of 2D DIGE over 2D Gel electrophoresis:
- Higher sensitivity: 2D DIGE uses Fluorescent labeling with a sensitivity of 0.2 ng/spot, versus the sensitivity of standard 2D gel electrophoresis with Coomassie blue staining at 100 ng/spot or silver staining at 1 ng/spot
- Higher accuracy: The extremely high spot resolution enables accurate spot quantitation. Differences in protein expression as small as 10% can be detected
- Higher reproducibility: Nearly identical data was obtained on the same sample labeled with different CyDye on the same gel or cross different gels, thus eliminating the need of running technical replicates
- Broader spectrum: Our large 2D DIGE gel format resolve ~5000 protein spots, allowing a wide dynamic range detection/quantitation of low abundant proteins, large proteins and small peptides
- Fewer number of gels: Each 2D DIGE gel can accommodate up to 3 different samples, versus 1 sample on each 2D Gel. For the same number of samples, only 1/3 number of 2D DIGE gels is needed.
- Lower cost: Our price is based on each gel instead of each sample. Lower number of 2D DIGE gels and no need of technical replicates translates into higher quality data at a lower cost than standard 2D Gel service. Price covers from sample preparation to publication-ready data.
- Fast turn-around: Results In 5-7 Days.