The A1801-LM is Benchmark Agarose LM (Low Melt) — a specialty low-melting-temperature agarose in the A1800 family, sold at $449 / 100 g for intact-DNA recovery from gel slices via enzymatic gel-melt protocol. Where standard agarose (A1700 family) melts at ~90 °C — too hot for intact-DNA recovery — low-melt agarose melts at ~65 °C, allowing enzymatic gel-melt and direct downstream use of the recovered DNA without the mechanical-shear damage that cut-and-spin extraction can introduce on long-DNA fragments.
Author confidence note (MEDIUM): Brochure exists in corpus as image-only PDF. Specs sourced from universe label and standard low-melt agarose conventions. Confirm exact gelling-temperature and melting-temperature values with Benchmark Scientific technical support.
Key Specifications
| SKU | A1801-LM |
| Type | Specialty low-melt agarose |
| Pack size | 100 g |
| Per-gram cost | $4.49/g (highest in A1801 specialty family) |
| Melting temperature | ~65 °C (vs ~90 °C standard agarose) |
| Gelling temperature | ~30 °C (vs ~36 °C standard) |
| Workflow position | Intact-DNA recovery from gel slices via enzymatic gel-melt protocol |
| Sister specialty SKUs | A1801-31 (3:1 high-resolution, $360), A1801-HR (HR PCR-grade, $388) |
| Sister LE family | A1700 / A1701 / A1705 — standard molecular biology grade |
| List price | $449 |
Why a Low-Melt Specialty Agarose — Intact-DNA Recovery via Enzymatic Gel-Melt
Standard agarose melts at ~90 °C — too hot for direct enzymatic processing because most enzymes denature above ~50 °C. Recovering DNA from standard agarose typically requires mechanical cut-and-spin extraction (silica-column or similar), which introduces a mechanical-shear step that can fragment long DNA (>10 kb) into smaller pieces.
Low-melt agarose melts at ~65 °C — still above gelling temperature but low enough for enzymatic gel-melt protocols using agarase (an enzyme that digests low-melt agarose at ~40 °C). The DNA emerges from the gel-melt without mechanical shear and ready for direct enzymatic processing (ligation, restriction digestion, transformation).
Pick the low-melt specialty (A1801-LM) when:
- Workflow requires intact long-DNA recovery from gel slices (>10 kb fragments where shear matters)
- BAC / YAC cloning workflows with very long fragment recovery
- Sub-cloning of long inserts where shear during recovery would fragment the insert
- Pulsed-field electrophoresis (PFGE) recovery of very-large fragments (when running PFGE-compatible LM agarose subset)
- Agarase-based enzymatic gel-melt protocols for direct downstream cloning workflows
Pick A1801-HR for PCR-grade DNA recovery of standard-length fragments where enzymatic gel-melt is not required.
Pick A1801-31 for high-resolution small-fragment separation without the low-melt requirement.
Pick A1700 LE family for standard electrophoresis at much lower per-gram cost where intact-long-DNA recovery is not the workflow.
Specialty Agarose Family — A1801 Comparison
| SKU | Specialty type | Optimized for | List price | Per-g cost |
| A1801-31 | 3:1 high-resolution blend | Small-fragment separation (100 bp – 1 kb) | $360 / 100 g | $3.60/g |
| A1801-HR | HR PCR-grade | Cloning-prep / sequencing-prep DNA recovery | $388 / 100 g | $3.88/g |
| A1801-LM (this product) | Low-melt | Intact-DNA recovery via enzymatic gel-melt | $449 / 100 g | $4.49/g |
The premium for low-melt ($4.49/g vs $1.13/g for standard LE 500 g pack) reflects the specialized chemistry — only justified when the workflow specifically requires intact-long-DNA recovery.
Application Profile
BAC / YAC cloning — large-insert cloning workflows where insert recovery from PFGE-style gels requires shear-free intact-DNA extraction.
Long-fragment sub-cloning — molecular cloning pipelines with insert sizes >10 kb where mechanical shear during recovery would fragment the insert.
Genomic-DNA library prep — workflows requiring intact long-DNA recovery for downstream library construction.
Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) workflows — when the LM grade is PFGE-compatible (confirm with Benchmark Scientific tech support at order).
Method-development workflows — protocol-development comparing standard cut-and-spin extraction vs enzymatic gel-melt for long-DNA recovery yields.
Educational molecular biology programs — graduate-level cloning coursework introducing low-melt enzymatic gel-melt protocols as advanced specialty technique.
Ordering & Configuration
Pair with electrophoresis chassis — same chassis pairing as standard LE; see A1700 parent page.
Pair with agarase enzyme. Confirm agarase enzyme inventory at order — the low-melt agarose is workflow-incomplete for enzymatic gel-melt without agarase. (Alternatively, low-melt agarose can be used for cut-and-spin extraction at standard temperatures — confirm intended protocol at order.)
Pair with downstream cloning reagents — T4 ligase, restriction enzymes, transformation-competent cells per cloning workflow.
Confirm at quote: workflow long-DNA recovery justification (vs standard cut-and-spin), agarase pairing, cloning pipeline plan, and lead time.
Warranty: Per Benchmark Scientific standard reagent terms.
Specialty agarose selection:
- A1801-31 — 3:1 high-resolution blend — small-fragment separation
- A1801-HR — HR PCR-grade — cloning-prep / sequencing-prep DNA recovery
- A1801-LM (this product) — Low-melt — intact-DNA recovery via enzymatic gel-melt
Pick the low-melt for intact-long-DNA recovery via enzymatic gel-melt protocols; sister specialties cover small-fragment-resolution and PCR-grade recovery workflows; standard LE family covers general-purpose electrophoresis at much lower per-gram cost.
