Staining with Coomassie Blue R250

• Stain the gel with 0.1% (or less) Coomassie Blue R250 in 10% acetic acid, 50% methanol, and 40% H2O for the minimum time (typically less than one hour) necessary to visualize the bands of interest.
• The gel should be exposed to 10% acetic acid, 50% methanol for a total (stain plus destain) period of at least 3 hours (with shaking and at least three solvent changes) to ensure adequate removal of SDS.
• Destain the gel by soaking for at least 2 hours in 10% acetic acid, 50% methanol, and 40% H2O with at least two changes of this solvent. If the gel still has a Coomassie Blue background then continue destaining until the background is nearly clear.

Staining with Colloidal Coomassie Blue Staining Kit (Invitrogen LC6025)

• After electrophoresis, fix gel in 40% methanol/ 50%water/ 10% acetic acid for approximately ½ hr.
• Expose the gel in staining solution overnight and destain the gel by changing water frequently.