Agar vs Agarose
Agar and agarose are two kinds of polysaccharide products which comes from red algae or seaweed, which is usually cultivated in parts of Asia and the United states. Agar and agarose both are very useful in many ways such as in culturing micro-organisms, as culinary ingredient, among other.
What is Agar?
Agar, or agar-agar, is produced from kinds of red algae such as Gracilaria and Gelidium. It is usually a gelatinous substance and is used as an element in the preparation of growth media for culturing an assorted bacteria, fungi and microorganism for scientific and medicinal research. Agar contains galactose and is a polymer which can be used also as gelatine- like food which vegans can substitute for meat.
What is Agarose?
Agarose is obtained from agar, which has undergone purification of polysaccharide and is very useful in bacteria culture as it does not have protein which is the food of the bacteria. It is also used in electrophoresis, a process to separate proteins usually done in studying DNA because agarose usually forms a neutral gel matrix which can easily be liquefied in high temperatures but easily reverts in gel form when cooled.
Difference between Agar and Agarose
Agar and agarose are both very useful in a variety of fields, ranging from the kitchen, as food, to the chemistry labs, as culture for bacteria growth. Agarose is obtained by purifying agar while agar is directly obtained from red algae. Agar is also a lot cheaper than agarose, although both of these materials are used in the field of microbiological studies due to its gel-like nature and provides some nutrients to bacteria also. Furthermore, agar is usually used in the food industry as ingredients for jellies, ice creams, mizuyokan, and gulaman while agarose is mostly used in gel electrophoresis.
Agar and agarose have been used extensively by humans since the development of microbiology. And due to this, we now have more knowledge on how bacteria works and we now know how to counteract its ill-effects.
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In brief: • Agar is obtained from red algae and seaweed such as Gracilaria and Gelidium. • Agarose is a purified form of agar. • Agarose is more expensive than agar. • Agar and agarose are extensively used in microbiological studies and for culturing bacteria. • Agar is also used in the food industry for making jellies, ice cream, and other culinary dishes while agarose is usually used in electrophoresis.
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