Potassium acetate is used as a buffer in molecular biology research, notably in the isolation of DNA. Potassium acetate may be utilized in the isolation of RNA intermediates and products from in vitro splicing reactions performed with HeLa cell nuclear extract. Potassium acetate has been used to study the interactions between the TATA box binding protein from Pyrococcus woesei and an oligonucleotide with a specific binding site. The use of potassium acetate in the analysis of oligogalacturonic acids by highperformance anion-exchange chromatography has been described.