How do I make a gel electrophoresis diagram from fragment sizes?

Paste a table with lane, sample name, and sizes in bp (or kDa). A 1 kb ladder plus your PCR or digest sizes is enough. The gel renders immediately; download the SVG for a report or slide.

Why do smaller bands run farther?

The gel is a sieve. Smaller DNA or protein fragments move through the pores more easily, so they travel farther toward the anode in the same time. This plot places bands on a log-size scale to match that textbook pattern. It does not re-run your samples in a real percentage agarose or acrylamide gel.

Can I draw an SDS-PAGE diagram?

Yes. Switch units to kDa and paste protein sizes, or load the SDS-PAGE sample. The layout is the same: marker on the left, samples in numbered lanes, smaller proteins farther from the wells.

Is this the same as a gel electrophoresis apparatus schematic?

No. Precise Gel draws the result — lanes and bands. A labeled picture of the gel box, comb, buffer, and power supply is a different figure. Use Illustration mode on this page, or the schematic diagram maker for a full lab-setup drawing.

Does the generator simulate supercoiled plasmid DNA?

No. It places each size you type. Supercoiled, linear, and nicked plasmid forms migrate differently in real agarose; if you need that distinction, type the apparent sizes you measured, or say so in Illustration mode.

Is the gel electrophoresis diagram generator free?

The precise, table-driven gel is free to use and free to download as SVG, with no sign-up. Sign in only if you want AI illustrations or other ConceptViz generation tools.

Research Tool

Gel Electrophoresis Diagram Generator for DNA and SDS-PAGE

Free gel electrophoresis diagram generator. Paste DNA or protein fragment sizes to draw an exact gel and download SVG.

Paste lanes and fragment sizesExact SVG with a log-size ladderDNA in bp or SDS-PAGE in kDaDownload a watermark-free SVG — free

Paste lanes and fragment sizes — renders an exact gel as SVG, free

Lane table

lane, sample name, fragment sizes in bp. Separate sizes with | or spaces.

5 lanes · 14 bands

UnitsGel styleTitle

Gel Electrophoresis Examples

The first four are exact engine renders from lane tables. The last two are AI illustrations of Illustration mode.

View:

Plasmid digest

Exact engine render — smaller fragments sit farther from the wells, toward the anode.

dnaagarosedigest

PCR product

Exact engine render — 850 bp lands between the 1 kb and 500 bp markers.

pcrladderdna

SDS-PAGE

Exact engine render — same log-size layout, units switched to kDa.

proteinsds-pagekda

Light teaching gel

Exact engine render — inverted style for worksheets that print in black and white.

lightteachinglabeled

AI illustration — apparatus

AI illustration of Illustration mode — apparatus schematic, not plotted from sizes.

aiapparatusschematic

AI illustration — stained gel

AI illustration of Illustration mode — visual mockup, not a data-accurate gel.

airesultstained

What is a gel electrophoresis diagram?

Gel electrophoresis separates DNA, RNA, or proteins by size in an electric field. Samples are loaded into wells at the cathode (negative, black). Nucleic acids and SDS-coated proteins are negatively charged, so they run toward the anode (positive, red). Smaller fragments travel farther through the gel matrix. This generator draws that result as an exact SVG from a lane table — not a photo of a real gel, and not a street map. For a labeled drawing of the gel box, power supply, and buffer tank, use Illustration mode or the schematic diagram maker.

What table to paste

Each row is a lane. You need a size column (bp, kDa, or a list of fragment sizes). A lane number and sample name are optional.
Put several sizes in one cell with | or spaces (850|5400), or use one row per band with the same lane number.
A lane named ladder or marker is treated as a size standard and labeled on the left.
Switch units to kDa for SDS-PAGE. The plot uses a log-size scale — the usual teaching and figure approximation — and does not simulate a specific agarose percentage.

How to read the gel

Wells sit at the top (cathode). DNA and SDS-PAGE proteins run down toward the anode.
Compare a sample band to the ladder: a PCR product between the 1000 bp and 500 bp marks is about 850 bp in the sample table.
An empty lane is a negative control. A single high band in an “uncut plasmid” lane is typical of supercoiled or circular DNA drawn at the size you typed — this tool does not model topology.
The red + and black − labels are teaching marks. Real boxes use red for the anode and black for the cathode.

Agarose gels and SDS-PAGE

Agarose gels are the standard DNA/RNA figure. SDS-PAGE is the protein version: SDS gives polypeptides a similar charge-to-mass ratio, so they also separate by size, usually reported in kDa. Both belong on this page. A western blot is a later transfer-and-antibody step, not the gel itself. Pair a result gel with a PCR or cloning schematic and a DNA structure diagram if you are writing a methods figure.

Export

Download a scalable SVG with no watermark and no account required for the precise gel. Open it in Illustrator, Inkscape, PowerPoint, or a lab report. The AI Illustration tab is only for apparatus drawings and stained-gel mockups when you do not have fragment sizes yet.

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What is a gel electrophoresis diagram?

What table to paste

Each row is a lane. You need a size column (bp, kDa, or a list of fragment sizes). A lane number and sample name are optional.

Put several sizes in one cell with | or spaces (850|5400), or use one row per band with the same lane number.

A lane named ladder or marker is treated as a size standard and labeled on the left.

Switch units to kDa for SDS-PAGE. The plot uses a log-size scale — the usual teaching and figure approximation — and does not simulate a specific agarose percentage.

How to read the gel

Wells sit at the top (cathode). DNA and SDS-PAGE proteins run down toward the anode.

Compare a sample band to the ladder: a PCR product between the 1000 bp and 500 bp marks is about 850 bp in the sample table.

An empty lane is a negative control. A single high band in an “uncut plasmid” lane is typical of supercoiled or circular DNA drawn at the size you typed — this tool does not model topology.

The red + and black − labels are teaching marks. Real boxes use red for the anode and black for the cathode.

Agarose gels and SDS-PAGE