0.5M EDTA, pH 8.0

0.5M EDTA buffer is mainly used as a chelating agent during metal dependent enzymatic reactions as it has the ability to "sequester" metal ions such as Ca2+ and Fe3+. After being bound by EDTA, metal ions remain in solution but exhibit diminished reactivity. Nucleic acids are normally stored in TE buffer that contains 1 mM EDTA, which prevents degradation of nucleic acids by metal dependent nucleases. 0.5M EDTA buffer is also used as a chelating agent in tissue culture as it binds to calcium and prevents the joining of cadherins (Ca2+ dependent cell-cell adhesion) between cells and as a result clumping of cells is prevented.