What is the Difference Between Sucrose and Cesium Chloride Centrifugation

The key difference between sucrose and cesium chloride centrifugation is that sucrose centrifugation is a powerful technique for fractionating macromolecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins, whereas cesium chloride centrifugation is the most widely used method for the purification of recombinant adenovirus.

Centrifugation is a technique useful in separating mixtures via applying centrifugal force. The centrifuge can be described as a device that is generally driven by an electric motor that can put an object, such as a rotor, in a rotational movement around a fixed axis.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Sucrose Centrifugation
3. What is Cesium Chloride Centrifugation
4. Sucrose vs Cesium Chloride Centrifugation in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Sucrose vs Cesium Chloride Centrifugation

What is Sucrose Centrifugation?

Sucrose centrifugation is a powerful technique for fractionating macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins. A sample consisting of a mixture of different-sized macromolecules is layered on the surface of a gradient having a density that increases linearly from top to bottom. Different from standard centrifugation, sucrose centrifugation uses the cushion method, which causes no mechanical stress and allows the collection of morphologically intact particles.

In this process, a swinging-bucket-type centrifuge tube is packed with a sucrose gradient; its bottom has the highest density, and the top has the least. Further, a suspension of the particles is layered over the top of the solution. Then, centrifugation can separate the particles within this gradient according to the density of the particles.

Furthermore, the sucrose density gradient is useful to demonstrate the androgen receptors that vary in size depending on the method of preparation and the ionic strength. Usually, 5 – 20% sucrose gradients are buffered to 7.5 – 8.0 pH values with or without glycerol, thioglycerol, and KCl.

What is Cesium Chloride Centrifugation?

Cesium chloride centrifugation is the most widely used technique for the purification of recombinant adenovirus. This protocol usually describes the entire process from the preparation step through the clarification of crude mixture to the formulation and storage of purified virus.

Since a solution of cesium chloride molecules can dissociate under high centrifugal force, the heavy cesium atoms are forced away from the center towards the outer end of the tube. However, diffusion back towards the top of the tube occurs at the same time. Therefore, it forms a shallow density gradient.

This technique enables scientists to separate substances depending on their size, shape, and density. Moreover, when a solution of cesium chloride undergoes high-speed centrifugation, a stable density gradient is formed. This technique is useful in the purification of a range of viruses, which include adenovirus, arterivirus, bacteriophage, calicivirus, herpesvirus, reovirus, etc.

What is the Difference Between Sucrose and Cesium Chloride Centrifugation?

Centrifugation is a technique useful in separating mixtures via applying centrifugal force. Sucrose and cesium chloride centrifugation are two types of centrifugation techniques. The key difference between sucrose and cesium chloride centrifugation is that sucrose centrifugation is a powerful technique for fractionating macromolecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins, whereas cesium chloride centrifugation is the most widely used method for the purification of recombinant adenovirus.

The following table summarizes the difference between sucrose and cesium chloride centrifugation.

Summary – Sucrose vs Cesium Chloride Centrifugation

Both sucrose and cesium chloride centrifugation are types of differential centrifugation methods. The key difference between sucrose and cesium chloride centrifugation is that sucrose centrifugation is a powerful technique in fractionating macromolecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins, whereas cesium chloride centrifugation is the most widely used method for the purification of recombinant adenovirus.

Reference:

1. “Sucrose Gradient.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Plant-cell-sucrose-gradient-fractions” By Zuzanna K. Filutowska – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Density gradient” – original uploader Mlw3559 at English Wikibooks. – Transferred from en.Wikibooks to Commons. (CC BY-SA 2.5) via Commons Wikimedia