ProteinPurification:Assays,SpecificActivity,InitialFractionation
Asuccessfulproteinpurificationprocedurecanbenothingshortofamazing.WhetheryouarestartingoffwitharecombinantproteinwhichisproducedinE.coli,ortryingtoisolateaproteinfromsomemammaliantissue,youaretypicallystartingwithgramquantitiesofacomplexmixtureofprotein,nucleicacids,polysaccharide,etc.fromwhichyoumayhavetoextractmilligram(ormicrogram!)quantitiesofdesiredproteinathighpurity,andhopefullywithhighyield.
Thefirststepinanypurificationisthedevelopmentofaspecificassayfortheproteinofinterest
Thespecificassaycanbebaseduponsomeuniquecharacteristicoftheproteinofinterest
- Enzymaticactivity
- Immunologicalactivity
- Physicalcharacteristics(e.g.molecularmass,spectroscopicproperties,etc.)
- BIOLOGicalactivity
- Ideally,anassayshouldbe
- Specific
(youdon"twantafalsepositive)- rapid
(youdon"twanttowaitaweekfortheresults)- sensitive
(youdon"twanttoconsumeallyoursampleinordertoassayit)- quantitative
(youneedanaccuratewaytomeasurethequantityofyourproteinateachstepinthepurification)
AntibodiescanbeusedinamethodcalledWesternblotting,whichisusefulfordetermininglevelsofproteinexpressionandforassayingproteinsduringpurification.Thismethodusuallyinvolvesthefollowingsteps:- Aproteinsampleissubjectedtopolyacrylamidegelelectrophoresis.
- Afterthisthegelisplacedoverasheetofnitrocelluloseandtheproteininthegeliselectrophoreticallytransferedtothenitrocellulose.
- Thenitrocelluloseisthensoakedingelatinto"block"itsABIlitytonon-specificallybindproteins.
- Thenitrocelluloseisthenincubatedwiththespecificantibodyfortheproteinofinterest.
- Thenitrocelluloseisthenincubatedwithasecondantibodywhichisspecificforthefirstantibody.Forexample,ifthefirstantibodywasraisedinrabbits,thesecondantibodymightbetermed"goatanti-rabbitimmunoglobulin".Whatthismeansisthatrabbitimmunoglobulinswereusedtoelicitanantibodyresponseingoats.Thegoatantibodies(polyclonal)willincludethosewhichrecognizetheconservedregionintherabbitantibodies.SincetheFcregionisconserved,itwillbindtoanyandallrabbitantibodies,includingthoseonthenitrocellulosepaper.
- Thesecondantibodywilltypicallyhaveacovalentlyattachedenzymewhich,whenprovidedwithachromogenicsubstrate,willcauseacolorreaction.
- Thusthemolecularweightandamountofthedesiredproteincanbecharacterizedfromacomplexmixture(e.g.crudecellextract)ofotherproteins.
Inavariationoftheabove,theproteinsamplemaybeblotteddirectlyonanitrocellulosepaper(calledadotblot)withoutfirstrunningagel.Thismaybedesirableif,forexample,theantibodyismonoclonalandrecognizesanepitopewhichisdependentuponnativestructure(whichwouldbedestroyeduponrunninganSDSPAGE).Inadditiontotheirvarieduses,antibodiescanalsobeusedtopurifyproteins.
- Ifrelativelylargeamountsofanantibodycanbeobtained,theycanbecovalentlyattachedtoachromatographyresin(e.g.sephadexbeads).
- Ifacrudecellextractisrunoversuchacolumn,onlytheproteinofinterestshouldbind,andeverythingelsewillflowthrough.
- Theboundproteincanthenbeeluted.ThisistypicallyachievedbymoderatelylowpHconditions(usingaceticacid).AslongastheproteinofinterestisnotirreversIBLydenaturedbysuchconditions,themethodwillworkquitewell.
- Onepotentialpitfallinvolvesthatofmonoclonalantibodiesbeingutilizedtopurifymutantproteins.Theregionsoftheproteincomprisingtheepitopecannotbemodifiedwithoutdestroyingtheabilityoftheantibodytobind.Thus,theuseofmonoclonalantibodiesinapurificationschememayprecludeitsuseinpurifyingcertainmutants.
Proteinpurificationcanbethoughtofasaseriesoffractionationstepsdesignedsothat:- Theproteinofinterestisfoundalmostexclusivelyinonefraction(andwithgoodyield)
- Asignificantamountofthecontaminantscanbefoundinadifferentfraction
Duringpurificationyouwillneedtomonitorseveralparameters,including:
- Totalsamplevolume
- Totalsampleprotein
(canbeestimatedbyA280;1.4~1.0mg/ml)- Unitsofactivityofdesiredprotein
(basedonspecificassay)
Thisbasicinformationwillallowyoutokeeptrackofthefollowinginformationduringeachstepofpurification:
- %yield
foreachpurificationstep- Specificactivity
ofthedesiredprotein(units/mgtotalprotein)- Purificationenhancement
ofeachstep(e.g."3.5xpurification)
Indesigningapurificationschemeyoutypicallyhavetobalancepurificationwithyield.- Forexample,itmayberelativelystraightforwardtoobtain90%purematerialwithgoodyield.
- However,itmaybedifficulttoimprovethatpurityanadditionalfewpercentilewithgoodyield.
- Theplannedapplicationofthepurifiedproteindeterminesthetargetpurity
. - Iftheproteinistobeusedtodetermineaminoacidsequenceinformation,maybe90%isacceptable.However,ifthematerialistobeusedinclinicaltrials,99.99+%maybethetargetpurity.
Initialstepsinpurification

- Itisextremelyhelpfultohavesomeinformationnotonlyonthegeneralphysicalandchemicalcharacteristicsoftheproteinyouaretryingtopurify,butalsoonthecontaminatingcomponents.
- Forexample,manyE.coliproteinsaregenerallylowmolecularweight(<50,000Da)andsomewhatacidicinisoelectricpoint
Usuallytheinitialstepsinpurificationmakeuseofgeneralphysicaland/orchemicaldifferencesbetweensolubleproteinsandothercellcomponents.
- Forexample,solubleproteinscanbeseparatedfromgeneralcellulardebris,andintactcells,bycentrifugation.
- Thus,cellsarephysicallydisrupted(viahomogenizationoracellpress)toallowreleaseofcellcontents.Thisisthenfollowedbycentrifugationtoseparategenerallysolublecomponentsfromthosewhichareinsoluble.
- Itisatthispointthatdatacollectionbeginsinordertomonitorthepurification.
NucleicacidscansometimesbereADIlyremovedfromthesamplebytheadditionoflargecationiccompoundssuchaspolyethyleneimine,orstreptomycinsulfate.- Thenucleicacidsbindtothesecompoundsviaelectrostaticinteractionsandthecomplexprecipitatesandcanberemovedviacentrifugation.
- Thesamegeneralresultcanbeobtainedbymixinginionexchangeresinswhichareanionexchangers(i.e.theresinscontaincationicgroups)andthenfilteringorcentrifugingtoremove.Aswitheithermethod,itshouldbeconfirmedthatthedesiredproteinisnotboundaswell.
Crudefractionationsofproteinscanbeachievedbyaddingvariousquantititesofprecipitantssuchasammoniumsulfate,orpolyethyleneglycol(PEG).- Forthistypeofpurificationstepaninitialexperimentisperformedtomonitorthefractionofoverallprotein,aswellasdesiredprotein,remaininginsolution(andpellet)asafunctionofprecipitantconcentration.
AmmoniumSulfate(%saturated) | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 |
SampleA280 | 1000 | 900 | 600 | 200 | 100 | 75 | 50 | 40 | 25 | 20 Activityassay(units) | 200 | 200 | 200 | 190 | 170 | 100 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 
- Inthisparticularexampleweareinluck:ataround30%ammoniumsulfatewecanprecipitateabout80%ofthetotalproteinconcentrationinoursample,yetouractivityassayforourdesiredproteinindicatesthatabout95%ofourdesiredproteinisstillsoluble.
- At80%ammoniumsulfateallofourdesiredproteinhasprecipitated.Thus,fromtheseresultswewoulddothefollowing:
- Addammoniumsulfatetooursampletoaconcentrationof30%saturation
- Centrifugeanddiscardthepellet
- Addammoniumsulfateto80%saturation
- Centrifugeandkeepthepellet.ResUSPendthepelletinbuffertosolubilizetheprotein.
- Wewouldexpectabouta5-foldpurificationwithabout95%yield.
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