The PR4100-500 is the 500-lane bulk pack of the Accuris SmartCheck 1 kb DNA Ladder — the large-fragment sizing ladder for plasmid linearization checks, large PCR products, and large restriction fragments on agarose gels. Ships as 5 × 500 µL tubes at 0.1 mg/mL in a ready-to-use formulation with loading buffer and tracking dye already included — direct-load on the gel. The 1 kb band-spacing is the right resolution for fragments in the ~0.5 kb – 10 kb range where the 100 bp ladder's spacing is too fine to span the relevant size range.
Key Specifications
| SKU | PR4100-500 |
| Type | DNA ladder — 1 kb resolution, ready-to-use |
| Pack format | 5 × 500 µL tubes (500 lanes total) |
| Ladder concentration | 0.1 mg/mL |
| Formulation | Pre-mixed with loading buffer and tracking dye — direct-load on the gel |
| Resolution / band spacing | 1 kb (1,000 bp) |
| Sizing range optimum | Large fragments — typical ~0.5 kb – 10 kb |
| Purification | Multistep chromatography for clear, distinct bands with increased intensity |
| Smaller pack sister | PR4100-100 (100 lanes — same ladder, smaller pack) |
| Resolution sisters | PR4005 (50 bp ladder), PR4010 (100 bp ladder) |
| Returns | Non-returnable — perishable reagent per Accuris reagent-return policy |
When to Pick the 1 kb Ladder
The 1 kb ladder is the right pick when fragments are large and 100 bp band-spacing would either pack too tightly to read or not span the size range:
| Workflow | Typical fragment size | Why 1 kb ladder |
| Plasmid linearization verification | 3–10 kb (typical plasmid) | 100 bp ladder doesn't span the size range readably; 1 kb ladder shows clear bands across plasmid sizes |
| Large PCR products | 2–10 kb | Long-range PCR amplicons need a ladder with bands spaced for that range |
| Plasmid restriction-digest mapping | 0.5–10 kb fragments | Mixed fragment sizes including large pieces; 1 kb ladder anchors the large-fragment portion |
| Genomic-fragment cloning | 1–10 kb | Insert-fragment size verification at the kb scale |
| BAC / cosmid analysis (compressed range) | 5–10 kb visible fragments | 1 kb ladder reads the relevant size range |
For fragments below ~500 bp, the 100 bp or 50 bp ladders are the right pick instead.
SmartCheck DNA Ladder Family — Resolution Map
| Ladder | Resolution | Sizing range optimum | When to pick |
| PR4005 — 50 bp | 50 bp band increments | Short fragments (50 bp – 1 kb) | Microsatellite / STR, short amplicons, tight spacing |
| PR4010 — 100 bp | 100 bp band increments | 100 bp – ~3 kb | Workhorse routine PCR-product sizing |
| PR4100 (this product's family) — 1 kb | 1 kb band increments | ~0.5 kb – 10 kb | Plasmid linearization, large PCR products, large restriction fragments |
Pack-Size Economics — 100 vs 500 Lane
The SmartCheck 1 kb ladder ships in two pack sizes:
| Pack | Volume | Lanes | When to pick |
| PR4100-100 | 1 × 500 µL | 100 lanes | Lower-volume use — benches that run plasmid / large-fragment gels intermittently |
| PR4100-500 (this product) | 5 × 500 µL | 500 lanes | High-volume workflows — cloning core facilities, plasmid-prep teams, teaching labs running plasmid-electrophoresis curricula |
Ready-to-Use Formulation
Per the Accuris Life Science Reagents Catalog: the SmartCheck 1 kb DNA Ladder ships pre-mixed with loading buffer and tracking dye at 0.1 mg/mL. The tube is ready to load directly onto the gel — no operator-side loading-dye supplementation required. The tracking dye migrates alongside the DNA fragments to indicate run progress.
Quality Attributes
Multistep chromatography purification. Clear, distinct bands with increased intensity for easy size determination — important for large-fragment ladders where band intensity at high MW can be a quality issue with low-cost ladder products.
Storage stability. Per Accuris ladder kit instructions — typically –20 °C storage with limited freeze-thaw cycle tolerance. The 5-tube pack format supports rotating one tube into active use while keeping the rest in deep storage.
Application Profile
Plasmid linearization verification — confirming complete digestion of a circular plasmid to its linear form at the expected size, or confirming specific restriction-digest patterns.
Cloning insert-fragment sizing — verifying insert-size in cloning workflows where the fragment is in the 1–10 kb range (gene-fragment cloning, expression-construct insert verification).
Long-range PCR product analysis — sizing PCR products from long-range polymerases that amplify 2–15 kb amplicons.
Plasmid prep QC — running plasmid-prep yields on a gel for QC where the supercoiled / relaxed / linear plasmid bands are in the kb range.
Genomic DNA quality assessment — qualitative gel-based QC of genomic DNA preparations where the high-MW genomic-DNA band is compared to the 1 kb ladder.
Mid-size restriction-fragment mapping — restriction-fragment analysis where the fragments span a wide size range and the large-fragment portion needs the 1 kb ladder for sizing.
Ordering & Configuration
Storage & handling. Per Accuris ladder kit instructions — typical –20 °C storage with limited freeze-thaw cycle tolerance.
Returns. Per the universe price-list category header: reagent products including DNA ladders are non-returnable due to perishable nature.
Confirm at quote: ladder resolution match (1 kb ladder for fragments in the 0.5–10 kb range), pack size (100 vs 500 lane based on workflow throughput), shipping conditions (cold-chain), and lead time.
Warranty: Per Accuris Life Science Reagents standard kit terms — confirm at quote.
Accuris SmartCheck DNA Ladder family:
- PR4005-100 / PR4005-500 — 50 bp ladder (short-fragment, high-resolution)
- PR4010-100 / PR4010-500 — 100 bp ladder (workhorse routine PCR sizing)
- PR4100-500 (this product) — 1 kb ladder, 500 lanes (large-fragment)
- PR4100-100 — 1 kb ladder, 100 lanes (smaller pack)
Pick by fragment-size range. Most benches stock the 100 bp ladder as the primary and add the 50 bp and 1 kb ladders for the extreme-fragment-size workflows.
