High-performance liquid chromatography of membrane proteins

Various modes of high-performance liquid chromatography, gel filtration, ion-exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, reversed-phase chromatography and metal chelate affinity chromatography, were investigated for the separation of membrane proteins. All were found applicable to membrane proteins, although the usefulness of each mode differed. For satisfactory results it was important to select appropriate elution conditions. The type and concentration of detergent was of special importance. The effects of other conditions, flow-rate, gradient steepness, type of buffer and salt, eluent pH, etc., were similar to those observed for soluble proteins.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of Sendai virus membrane proteins

The three membrane proteins of Sendai virus can be extracted from the membrane by non-ionic detergents. The extracted proteins serve as a model mixture for the development of high-performance liquid chromatographic methods for the purification of hydrophobic membrane proteins.     

High-performance affinity chromatography of human serum concanavalin A binding proteins

A high-performance concanavalin A (Con A) affinity column Gelpack GL-L55C (Hitachi Kasei Industries) was successfully used for the fractionation of human serum Con A-binding proteins. Serum proteins that have strong affinity to Con A (ca. 11% of the recovered proteins) could be fractionated within 80 min. By analysing the eluates from the column by micro two-dimensional electrophoresis, followed by blotting and Con A staining, the specificity of the column was effectively visualized. Although the protein-binding capacity of the column gradually decreased during repeated loading of serum or tissue extracts, the specificity of the column to Con A-binding proteins did not change. Serum lipoproteins have been eluted from the column with 6 M urea, suggesting that the capacity decrease is caused by the binding of lipids or lipoproteins to the column.     

High-performance hydroxyapatite chromatography of integral membrane proteins and water-soluble proteins in complex with sodium dodecyl sulphate.

Integral membrane proteins from human erythrocytes were fractionated in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) on four types of high-performance hydroxyapatite columns. A column of 2-microns sintered hydroxyapatite beads from Asahi Optical (Tokyo, Japan) gave the best resolution. With this column, glycophorin was eluted early in a gradient of increasing sodium phosphate buffer concentration, the glucose transporter was eluted later in two zones, one of which contained this protein alone, and the anion transporter was eluted last. Water-soluble proteins applied in complex with SDS also separated reasonably well upon elution. The water-soluble proteins and the membrane proteins were all eluted mainly in the order of increasing polypeptide length, but with considerable individual variation. SDS-polypeptide complexes are probably adsorbed onto hydroxyapatite by the interaction of positively charged amino acid side groups with phosphate ions (at P-sites) and of negatively charged amino acid side groups and polypeptide-bound dodecyl sulphate anions with calcium ions (at C-sites). As a rule, the number of charged side groups and dodecyl sulphate anions, and thus the number of binding sites, increases with the polypeptide chain length, which explains the general order of release of the polypeptides.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of proteins: purification of alpha-fetoprotein from fetal calf serum

High-performance liquid chromatography was utilized for the purification of bovine alpha-fetoprotein (BAFP) from fetal calf serum (FCS). An initial step in the purification involved absorption of charcoal delipidated FCS on Cibacron Blue F3GA gel. The Cibacron Blue pre-purified FCS was then chromatographed on a Polyanion SI weak anion-exchange column. The BAFP isolated had a purity of greater than 93% with an overall yield of 48% from FCS. The procedure was applicable for semi-preparative scale purification of BAFP.     

Fractionation of human plasma proteins by hydrophobic interaction membrane chromatography

This paper discusses the fractionation of human plasma proteins HSA and HIgG by hydrophobic interaction membrane chromatography. A type of microporous polyvinylidine fluoride (PVDF) membrane having 0.1 μm pore size was identified as being suitable for carrying out this separation. This membrane bound HIgG at 1.5 M ammonium sulphate concentration, a condition at which HSA did not. Based on this selective binding resulting from the selective pressure induced by the high anti-chaotropic salt concentration, these human plasma proteins were fractionated. The HIgG binding capacity of the PVDF membrane examined in this study was 42.8 mg/ml at a feed concentration of 0.45 mg/ml. Separation of simulated HSA/HIgG mixtures were carried out in the pulse and step input modes and the HSA and HIgG fractions thus obtained were analysed for purity using affinity chromatography and SDS-PAGE. HSA and HIgG purities were typically in excess of 97–98%.     

High-performance capillary electrophoresis of hydrophobic membrane proteins

Hydrophobic membrane proteins, extrinsic and intrinsic ones, were separated by high-performance capillary zone electrophoresis (HPCZE) and high-performance capillary isotachophoresis (HPCITP). In the case of HPCZE with both coated and uncoated quartz capillaries the addition of 7 M urea to the separation buffers was necessary to achieve reproducible results. In the HPCITP experiments PTFE capillaries were used. When spacers were used, e.g., ampholytes, additional splitting of peaks was observed. The splitting was caused by the microheterogeneity of the investigated proteins, which are differently glycosylated and/or phosphorylated.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of amino acid peptides and proteins

Summary The retention behaviour of seven globular proteins ranging in molecular weight from 12,000 to 69,000 was investigated using Mono-Q anion-exchange resin as the stationary phase and sodium chloride as the displacer salt. In particular the influence of changes in ionic strength and mobile phase pH on the isocratic retention properties was assessed. Several proteins were found to have significant retention when the pH of the mobile phase was below the reported pl values of the proteins. This behaviour results from the non-uniform charge distribution on the protein surface, which allows interaction with the charged stationary phase even though the protein net charge is equal to or greater than zero. The influence of pH and ionic strength on experimentally observed bandwidths was also investigated. The dependence of the effective reduced plate height on solute capacity factor was found to vary significantly with the mobile phase pH, a behaviour consistent with the interplay of complex multisite binding kinetics. These results provide a basis for further detailed investigations into the mechanism of interaction of proteins not only with charged surfaces associated with adsorptive chromatographic media but also with other macromolecules. For Part LXXXII, see ref. [27].     

High-performance liquid chromatography of proteins on N-methylpyridinium polymer columns

Two types of 4-methylpyridinium polymers (4VP-DVB-Me and 4VP-EG-Me, cross-linked with divinylbenzene and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, respectively) were employed for the analysis of proteins in ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography. These polymers had different physical properties in the dry state, but showed similar retentions in size-exclusion chromatography using carbohydrate standards. Generally, the 4VP-EG-Me column was superior to the 4VP-DVB-Me column with regard to separation and recovery of proteins.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of proteins on short capillary columns

A microchromatographic procedure for highly sensitive analysis of proteins has been developed by using short capillary columns with reverse-phase, ion-exchange, and hydrophobic interaction sorbents. The high analytical mass sensitivity on the level of several nanograms was attained by the miniaturization of the column and the optimization of gradient steepness.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of proteins using chemically-modified silica supports

Summary Highly efficient and fast exclusion-chromatographic separations of proteins are possible on chemically-modified, silica stationary phases. By optimizing the pH and the ionic strength of the aqueous eluent secondary interactions of the samples with surface groups can be excluded. Bonded propylamide groups proved to possess optimum properties for exclusion chromatography. With other functional groups adsorption effects cannot be excluded totally. The optimum pore size distribution for protein separation up to relative molecular masses of 500,000 daltnons is between 10nm and 50nm. With these silica-based phases the pore size distribution, the pore volume and the packing characteristics are independent of the eluent, therefore the same column can be used with aqueous as well with organic eluents. It is possible to correlate the elution volume (molecular size) of proteins with those of polystyrene standars. The recovery of the proteins and their biological activity has always been better than 90%. The potentialities of adsorption chromatography of proteins on chemically-bonded stationary plases with different functional groups are demonstrated.     

Salting-out chromatography of serum proteins

The usefulness of salting-out chromatography is demonstrated by the separation of blood serum proteins on Sephadex. Conventional and highly purous ion exchangers generally can not be used because of irreversible Sorption of protuin.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of apolipoproteins in serum high-density lipoproteins

A simple and rapid method for apolipoprotein analysis in serum high-density lipoproteins (HDL) has been developed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) containing 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) as eluent. In contrast to the use of urea solution as an eluent, apolipoproteins can be analysed by applying an incubation mixture of HDL and the eluent buffer. A TSK-GEL column of G3000SW was found to be more profitable than G2000SW or G4000SW for analysis of HDL apolipoproteins. Elution patterns monitored by absorbance at 280 nm using a G3000SW column can give precise quantitative as well as qualitative information about apolipoproteins of molecular weight between 10(4) and 10(5). HPLC patterns of HDL apolipoproteins were compared between individual human subjects with various diseases. Elution profiles for lipid components in an incubation mixture were also examined.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of amino acids, peptides and proteins. CXV. Thermodynamic behaviour of peptides in reversed-phase chromatography.

The thermodynamic behaviour of three peptides, bombesin, beta-endorphin and glucagon, was studied under reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic conditions. Experimental data related to the interactive surface contact area (S values) and solute affinity (log k0) were derived over a range of temperatures between 5 and 85 degrees C. These experimental conditions allowed changes in the secondary structure of the solute to be monitored. The influence of the nature of the stationary phase ligand on the relative conformational stability of the three peptides was analysed by acquiring data with n-octadecyl silica (C18) and n-butyl silica (C4) sorbents. Values for the relative changes in entropy and enthalpy associated with the interactive process were also determined. The results provide further insight into the factors involved with the stabilization of secondary structure and the mechanism of the interaction of peptides with hydrophobic surfaces.     

Cascade-mode multiaffinity chromatography. Fractionation of human serum proteins.

The group-resolving power of cascade-mode multiaffinity column chromatography (CASMAC), was demonstrated with human serum as a model mixture. More than 99% of the serum proteins were adsorbed in the same high salt-containing buffer on a tandem column consisting of (1) immobilized Zn2+ on triscarboxymethyl diamine gel followed by (2) thiophilic (T) gel, (3) Zn2+ bound to the new tridentate chelating adsorbent dipicolylamine (DPA) agarose, (4) hexyl-thioether C6-S agarose and (5) Ni(2+)-DPA agarose. After the adsorption step the immobilized metal ion affinity gels were attached to the top of tandem columns of other adsorbents (T gel, Sephadex G-25 for desalting and Mono-Q) and the elution conditions were selected such that further group separation was achieved. High resolution, high recovery, easy manipulation and high capacity are characteristic features of the cascade process with these adsorbents. The advantage of CASMAC is particularly striking when, with a given number of adsorbents, the overall number of operations involving adsorption, desorption, washing, buffer change and substance concentration can be effectively minimized.