Generalizing a two-conformation model for describing salt and temperature effects on protein retention and stability in hydrophobic interaction chromatography

A two-conformation adsorption model that includes the effects of salt concentration and temperature on both stability and adsorption has been developed to describe the effects of secondary protein unfolding on hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). The model has been applied to a biotech protein and to beta-lactoglobulin on Phenyl Sepharose 6FF low sub HIC media. Thermodynamic property models for adsorption and protein stability with parameters obtained from experimental chromatographic data successfully describe observed chromatographic behavior over ranges of temperature and salt concentration, provide predictions of distribution among different conformers, and give a basis for calculating trends in retention strength and stability with changing conditions, that might prove useful in HIC process development.     

疏水层析蛋白质动力学与平衡过程的考察

疏水层析是分离生物大分子的常用技术之一，但对疏水层析中蛋白质吸附动力学和平衡过程的研究并不多见．本文对蛋白质疏水吸附动力学和平衡过程作了基本假设，并用实验进行了验证。制备了两种不同丁基密度的疏水琼脂糖介质，用其吸附牛血清白蛋白(BSA)以验证对疏水吸附动力学与平衡过程作的假设，考察了盐浓度及配基密度对蛋白质疏水吸附的影响．还对三种疏水性不同的蛋白质：核糖核酸酶、卵清蛋白和牛血清白蛋白的混合体系进行了分离性能的研究，获得了满意的分离效果．实验表明，蛋白质在疏水介质上的吸附动力学和平衡过程与所作假设相符，在实验条件下等温吸附线符合Langmuir吸附等温方程：研制的丁基琼脂糖疏水介质具有优良的使用性能。     

Changes in solvent exposure reveal the kinetics and equilibria of adsorbed protein unfolding in hydrophobic interaction chromatography

Hydrogen exchange has been a useful technique for studying the conformational state of proteins, both in bulk solution and at interfaces, for several decades. Here, we propose a physically based model of simultaneous protein adsorption, unfolding and hydrogen exchange in HIC. An accompanying experimental protocol, utilizing mass spectrometry to quantify deuterium labeling, enables the determination of both the equilibrium partitioning between conformational states and pseudo-first order rate constants for folding and unfolding of adsorbed protein. Unlike chromatographic techniques, which rely on the interpretation of bulk phase behavior, this methodology utilizes the measurement of a molecular property (solvent exposure) and provides insight into the nature of the unfolded conformation in the adsorbed phase. Three model proteins of varying conformational stability, α-chymotrypsinogen A, β-lactoglobulin B, and holo α-lactalbumin, are studied on Sepharose™ HIC resins possessing assorted ligand chemistries and densities. α-Chymotrypsinogen, conformationally the most stable protein in the set, exhibits no change in solvent exposure at all the conditions studied, even when isocratic pulse-response chromatography suggests nearly irreversible adsorption. Apparent unfolding energies of adsorbed β-lactoglobulin B and holo α-lactalbumin range from −4 to 3 kJ/mol and are dependent on resin properties and salt concentration. Characteristic pseudo-first order rate constants for surface-induced unfolding are 0.2–0.9 min⁻¹. While poor protein recovery in HIC is often associated with irreversible unfolding, this study documents that non-eluting behavior can occur when surface unfolding is reversible or does not occur at all. Further, this hydrogen exchange technique can be used to assess the conformation of adsorbed protein under conditions where the protein is non-eluting and chromatographic methods are not applicable.     

Effects of thermal heterogeneity in hydrophobic interaction chromatography

Manipulating temperature and salt concentration can have a powerful effect on the separation effectiveness in hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). However, use of temperature as an operating variable in large-scale applications may involve undesirable consequences such as radial heterogeneity of the column temperature. In this study non-ideal effects of heat transfer in HIC columns were analyzed. The radial temperature gradients were measured by thermocouples immersed in a bed packed into a preparative column. The column wall was either thermostatted by a water jacket or left under ambient conditions. The influence of ineffective column thermostatting and of heat losses on the radial temperature profiles was demonstrated and predicted by a model of heat dispersion in a packed bed. To analyze possible positive or negative effects of thermal heterogeneity on band propagation, non-isothermal chromatographic elution of a model protein (α-chymotrypsinogen A) was recorded under salt gradient conditions as well as at constant salt concentration. To predict temperature and concentration profiles a model of the column dynamics was used. The model accounted for kinetics of mass and heat transfer. A good agreement between experimental and simulated profiles was achieved. It was shown that by proper selection of the process conditions undesirable temperature effects can be avoided or controlled.     

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography of proteins. III. Unfolding of proteins upon adsorption

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) exploits the hydrophobic properties of protein surfaces for separation and purification by performing interactions with chromatographic sorbents of hydrophobic nature. In contrast to reversed-phase chromatography, this methodology is less detrimental to the protein and is therefore more commonly used in industrial scale as well as in bench scale when the conformational integrity of the protein is important. Hydrophobic interactions are promoted by salt and thus proteins are retained in presence of a cosmotropic salt. When proteins are injected on HIC columns with increasing salt concentrations under isocratic conditions only, a fraction of the applied amount is eluted. The higher the salt concentration, the lower is the amount of eluted protein. The rest can be desorbed with a buffer of low salt concentration or water. It has been proposed that the stronger retained protein fraction has partially changed the conformation upon adsorption. This has been also corroborated by physicochemical measurements. The retention data of 5 different model proteins and 10 different stationary phases were evaluated. Partial unfolding of proteins upon adsorption on surfaces of HIC media were assumed and a model describing the adsorption of native and partial unfolded fraction was developed. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the surface acts as catalyst for partial unfolding, since the fraction of partial unfolded protein is increasing with length of the alkyl chain.     

Recombinant protein purification using gradient-assisted simulated moving bed hydrophobic interaction chromatography. Part I: selection of chromatographic system and estimation of adsorption isotherms

The design of gradient simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatographic processes requires an appropriate selection of the chromatographic system followed by the determination of adsorption isotherm parameters in the relevant range of mobile phase conditions. The determination of these parameters can be quite difficult for recombinant target proteins present in complex protein mixtures. The first part of this work includes the estimation of adsorption isotherm parameters for streptokinase and a lumped impurity fraction present in an Escherichia coli cell lysate for a hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) matrix. Perturbation experiments were carried out using a Butyl Sepharose matrix with purified recombinant protein on buffer equilibrated columns as well as with crude cell lysate saturated columns. The Henry constants estimated for streptokinase were found to exhibit in a wide range a linear dependence on the salt concentration in the mobile phase. These parameters were applied in subsequent investigations to design a simulated moving bed (SMB) process capable to purify in a continuous manner recombinant streptokinase from the E. coli cell lysate.     

一种疏水色谱填料的特性及应用的研究

 以交联壳聚糖为基质 ,正戊醛为配基 ,利用改进的方法制备了疏水作用色谱 (HIC)填料 ,并对该色谱填料的吸附行为和应用作了研究。结果表明 ,此类填料对蛋白质的吸附行为符合疏水相互作用理论 ,对α 淀粉酶的纯化活性回收率大于 80 %。     

Retention model of protein for mixedmode interaction mechanism in ion exchange and hydrophobic interaction chromatography

A unified retention equation of proteins was proved to be valid for a mixed-mode interaction mechanism in ion exchange chromatography (IEC) and hydrophobia interaction chro-matography (HIC). The reason to form a "U" shape retention curve of proteins hi both HIC and IEC was explained and the concentration range of the strongest elution ability for the mobile phase was determined with this equation. The parameters in this equation could be used to characterize the difference for either HIC or IEC adsorbents and the changes in the molecular conformation of proteins. With the parameters in this equation, the contributions of salt and water in the mobile phase to the protein retention in HIC and IEC were discussed, respectively. In addition, the comparison between the unified equation and Melander' s three-parameter equation for mixed-mode interaction chromatography was also investigated and better results were obtained in former equation.     

Polyethylene glycol increases purification and recovery, alters retention behavior in flow-through chromatography of hemoglobin

Flow-through chromatography was a method for purification of hemoglobin (Hb) from red cell lysate. The presence of 0-5% polyethylene glycol (PEG) increased the retention time of Hb peak from 15 min to 20 min in flow-through ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) but decreased the retention time from 88 min to 62 min in the hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). However, the purification and the recovery were both increased. For IEC the recovery of hemoglobin increased from 75% to more than 90%, and the purified Hb showed single band in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and one peak in size-exclusion HPLC. For HIC, the recovery of hemoglobin was improved significantly from 20% to 85% and the removal of lipids was 100%. The bioactivity of hemoglobin was well preserved in these two chromatographic processes. The mechanism for the effect of PEG in these two flow-through chromatographic processes was discussed.     

转Bt基因植物表达产物Cry1Ab蛋白的制备纯化方法研究

以转Bt基因水稻为试材,研究其表达产物Cry1Ab蛋白的提取、分离及纯化的方法。实验结果表明,DEAE-纤维素填料对Bt蛋白有较好捕获效果。根据生物信息学方法预测了目标蛋白和主要共存蛋白的等电点和疏水性差异。合理地选择了阴离子交换色谱与疏水作用色谱组合方法。提取液经DEAE-Sephadex A-50柱层析及Phenyl-Sepharose Fast Flow疏水层析分离后,目标蛋白得到了显著的纯化。考察了疏水层析中用不同洗脱液洗脱Cry1Ab蛋白对活性回收率和纯度的影响,结果表明：以0．25mol／L KSCN作洗脱液对活性影响最小,HIC一步纯化倍数可达8倍,总纯化倍数达100倍。     

Methods of calculating protein hydrophobicity and their application in developing correlations to predict hydrophobic interaction chromatography retention

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) is a key technique for protein separation and purification. Different methodologies to estimate the hydrophobicity of a protein are reviewed, which have been related to the chromatographic behavior of proteins in HIC. These methodologies consider either knowledge of the three-dimensional structure or the amino acid composition of proteins. Despite some restrictions; they have proven to be useful in predicting protein retention time in HIC.     

Alpha-lactalbumin tertiary structure changes on hydrophobic interaction chromatography surfaces

Hydrogen exchange (HX) detected by mass spectrometry (MS) was used to analyze the structure of calcium-free alpha-lactalbumin, a model protein with marginal stability. Two chromatographic peaks were observed from samples of pure protein eluted from SOURCE phenyl hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) media. Whole-protein HX measurements showed that the less-retained peak had solvent exposure similar to native protein in the absence of the HIC surface while the retained protein was nearly, although not fully, solvent exposed. The formation of these two peaks was kinetically limited. The protein also refolded successfully following elution. In addition, proteolytic fragmentation was used to analyze HX at the peptide level. This approach revealed that helix C was the most stable region of alpha-lactalbumin under native conditions and in the flow-through peak. Helix C also formed the core of residual native structure in the partially unfolded protein in the retained peak. The results suggest that residues that are most solvent accessible under native conditions may be those most likely to unfold upon adsorption.     

疏水作用色谱介质的合成及色谱特性研究

利用国产大孔硅胶作基质合成了疏水填料。按照高效疏水作用色谱法,采用梯度洗脱方式分离了6种标准蛋白及唾液中α-淀粉酶和基因工程生产的γ-干扰素。柱子不可逆吸附小、被试验的α-淀粉酶和溶菌酶活性几乎定量被回收。应用合成的色谱填料研究了洗脱剂中盐浓度和温度对蛋白质保留行为的影响,论证了合成填料的色谱属性。     

Analysis of applying different solvents for the mobile phase and for sample injection

Overloading a chromatographic column with a compound possessing low solubility in the mobile phase has been investigated. In order to increase the concentration of injection a strong solvent for dissolving the feed was used. The injection of such concentrated samples brings the risk of triggering undesired crystallisation processes. A model system has been investigated with ethanol-water as the mobile phase and DL-threonine as the sample dissolved in pure water. Under extreme overloaded conditions band splitting was observed. Measurements of the adsorption isotherms and systematic solubility studies were carried out. For the process analysis a simplified mathematical model was applied. The simulations of the band profiles were compared with the experimental data.     

Loading, stationary phase, and salt effects during hydrophobic interaction chromatography: alpha-lactalbumin is stabilized at high loadings

Amide hydrogen-deuterium exchange labeling has been used to study the effects of salt and protein loading on alpha-lactalbumin (BLA) stability during hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). Stability in the adsorbed phase increased dramatically with increasing loading, and unfolding was nearly undetectable close to the resin saturation capacity. We also found that a butyl surface destabilized BLA more than a phenyl surface, despite the fact that BLA was bound more strongly on the phenyl surface. These observations have important implications for HIC process design and indicate that in some cases column capacity does not have to be sacrificed to preserve protein stability.     

Adsorption Calculations Using the Film Model Approximation for Intraparticle Mass Transfer

An approximate rate equation based on a film-model representation of diffusional mass transfer has been developed to describe the kinetics of multicomponent adsorption. The model describes mass transfer as a pseudo-steady state diffusion process through a flat film of thickness equal to one fifth of the particle radius. The flux relationships are integrated across the film yielding analytical expressions for the rate of mass transfer in a multicomponent adsorption system. The usefulness of the film model approximation is tested by carrying out calculations for three different practical adsorption systems: the adsorption of n-pentane and n-heptane mixtures on NaCaA zeolite discussed by Marutovsky and Bülow (1987); the adsorption of air in molecular sieve RS-10 discussed by Farooq et al. (1993); and the separation of air in a kinetically-controlled nitrogen PSA process discussed by Farooq and Ruthven (1990) and Sundaram and Yang (1998). In each case, the film model approximation predicts the expected trends accounting for the coupling of diffusion fluxes in the adsorbed phase.     

Modeling of adsorption in hydrophobic interaction chromatography systems using a preferential interaction quadratic isotherm

A preferential interaction quadratic isotherm model for hydrophobic interaction chromatographic systems is presented in this paper. In this isotherm, the nonlinear effect of salt on the capacity factor is described using the preferential interaction model developed by Perkins et al. [J. Chromatogr. A, 766 (1997) 1]. This is then coupled with a quadratic nonlinear isotherm to describe nonlinear adsorption behavior at high solute concentrations. The resulting preferential interaction quadratic isotherm is examined for its ability to describe solute adsorption behavior under both linear and nonlinear conditions over a wide range of salt concentrations in HIC systems. The results indicate that this isotherm is well suited for predicting nonlinear adsorption behavior in HIC systems for both proteins and low-molecular mass HIC displacers.     

Separation of planar chiral ferrocene derivatives on beta-cyclodextrin-based polymer supports prepared via ring-opening metathesis graft-polymerization

A plastic microfluidic system, containing porous poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes adsorbed with bovine serum albumin (BSA), is demonstrated for high resolution chiral separation of racemic tryptophan and thiopental mixtures. Microfluidic networks on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrates are fabricated by capillary molding technique. This miniaturized chiral separation system consists of two layers of PVDF membranes which are sandwiched between two PDMS slabs containing microchannels facing the membranes. On-line adsorption of BSA onto the membranes is employed for the preparation of chiral stationary phase and the evaluation of solution conditions in an effort to achieve maximum protein adsorption. Variations in the mobile phase conditions, including solution pH and ammonium sulfate concentration, are studied for their effects on chiral separation. Based on the large surface area to volume ratio of porous membrane media, adsorbed BSA onto the PVDF membranes enables high resolution separation of racemic mixtures with sample consumption of sub-nanogram or less in the integrated microfluidic networks. In addition, the membrane pore diameter in the submicron range eliminates the constraints of diffusional mass-transfer resistance during protein adsorption and chiral chromatographic processes.