Phosphate affinity electrophoresis utilizes an affinity probe which consists of a molecule that binds specifically to divalent phosphate ions in neutral aqueous solution, known as a "Phos-Tag". This methods also utilizes a separation gel made of an acrylamide-pendent Phos-Tag monomer that is copolymerized. Phosphorylated proteins migrate slowly in the gel compared to non-phosphorylated proteins. This technique gives the researcher the ability to observe the differences in the phosphorylation states of any given protein. This technique allows for the detection of distinct bands even in protein molecules that have the same amount of phosphorylated amino acid residues but are phosphorylated at different amino acid locations.