Which application is one of the uses of SDS in the laboratory?

Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is a detergent commonly used in molecular biology laboratories, primarily for its ability to denature proteins. When SDS is used in protein analysis techniques, such as SDS-PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis), it binds to proteins and disrupts their secondary and tertiary structures. This denaturation results in the unfolding of proteins into linear chains, effectively rendering them uniform in charge-to-mass ratio. Consequently, this allows for the separation of protein molecules based solely on their size during electrophoresis.

Other applications mentioned in the options serve different purposes. For instance, enhancing DNA amplification refers to methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that focus on increasing the quantity of a specific DNA segment. Isolating RNA from cells involves techniques that are different from what SDS primarily accomplishes, as RNA extraction typically uses reagents that stabilize RNA and remove proteins rather than denaturing them. Visualizing nucleic acids relates to processes involving fluorescent dyes or other staining methods that allow for the detection of nucleic acid presence, which again does not encompass the function of SDS in protein denaturation. Therefore, the use of SDS in denaturing proteins stands out as its primary application in the laboratory setting.