Disulfides using 2-mercaptoethanol

Dithiothreitol (DTT) and dithioerythritol (DTE) are the trans and cis isomers of the compound 2,3-dihydroxy-1,4-dithiolbutane. The reducing potential of these versatile reagents was first described by Cleland in 1964. Due to their low redox potential (—0.33 V) they are able to reduce virtually all accessible biological disulfides and maintain free thiols in solution despite the presence of oxygen. The compounds are fully water-soluble with very little of the offensive odor of the 2-mercaptoethanol they were meant to replace. Since Cleland s original report, literally thousands of references have cited the use of mainly DTT for the reduction of cystine and other forms of disulfides. 

Cleland (1964) showed that DTT and DTE are superior reagents in reducing disulfide bonds in proteins (see previous discussion, this section). DTT and DTE have low oxidation-reduction potential and are capable of reducing protein disulfides at concentrations far below that required with 2-mercaptoethanol. However, even these reagents have to be used in approximately 20-fold molar excess in order to get close to 100 percent reduction of a protein. 

Figure 19.19 shows a plot of the results of such an assay done to determine the maleimide content of activated BSA. This particular assay used 2-mercaptoethanol which is relatively unaffected by metal-catalyzed oxidation. For the use of cysteine or cysteine-containing peptides in the assay, however, the addition of EDTA is required to prevent disulfide formation. Without the presence of EDTA at 0.1 M, the metal contamination of some proteins (especially serum proteins such as BSA) is so great that disulfide formation proceeds preferential to maleimide coupling. Figure 19.20 shows a similar assay for maleimide-activated BSA using the more innocuous cysteine as the sulfhydryl-containing compound. 

To avoid reduction of disulfide bonds, use 0.2 mg/ml tyrosin instead of 2-mercaptoethanol. 

To further exploit the potential usefiilness of this new family of clusters, monoadduct 54 was saponified into 55 (0.05 M NaOH, quant) and condensed to L-lysine methyl ester using 2-ethoxy-l-ethoxycarbonyl-l,2-dihydroquinoline (EEDQ) to give extended dimer 56 in 50 % yield together with monoadduct in 15 % yield [75]. Additionally, tert-butyl thioethers 52 could be transformed into thiols by a two step process involving 2-nitrobenzenesulfenyl chloride (2-N02-PhSCl, HOAc, r.t, 3h, 84%) followed by disulfide reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol (60%). Curiously, attempts to directly obtain these thiolated telomers by reaction with thioacetic acid f ed. These telomers were slightly better ligands then lactose in inhibition of binding of peanut lectin to a polymeric lactoside [76]. 

Urea is used to denature ribonuclease, and mercaptoethanol (HOCH2CH2SH) to reduce and thus cleave the disulfide bonds to yield eight Cys residues. Renaturation involves reestablishment of the correct disulfide cross-links. 

Upon oxidation these dithiols cyclize to form stable disulfides, driving the reaction to completion. These same compounds are also widely used to protect SH groups in enzymes against accidental oxidation by oxygen and to dissolve highly crosslinked insoluble proteins. Mercaptoethanol, HS-CH2-CH2-OH, may be used for the same purposes but requires higher concentrations and has a disagreeable odor. 

Antigen unmasking on sections of paraffin-embedded tissues can be accomplished by reduction of disulfide bonds by treatment with 2-mercaptoethanol, followed by alkylation with sodium iodoacetate to prevent the bonds from reforming. This method has been used for unmasking a Kunitz protease inhibitory domain epitope of Alzheimer s amyloid precursor protein in human brain (Campbell et al., 1999). Sections are reduced with a mixture of 0.14 M 2-mercaptoethanol in 0.5 M Tris-HCl (pH 8.0) and 1 mM EDTA for 3 hr in the dark at room temperature. After being washed for 3 min in distilled water, the sections are treated with a mixture of 250 mg/ml iodoacetic acid in 0.1 M NaOH, diluted 1 10 in 0.5 M Tris-HCl (pH 8.0) and 1 mM EDTA for 20 min in the dark. 

---