Dried protein analysis

Protein Analysis. Protein concentrations were determined with a Spectronic 20 spectophotometer employing BSA as a standard (12). Each 0.1 ml sample was spotted on 3 cm2 Whatman No. 42 filter paper and air dried. Samples were stained with Xylene Brilliant Cyanin G (K and K Laboratories, Cleveland, Ohio), and the absorbance at 610 nm was recorded against a blank containing distilled water. Samples were corrected using controls containing all components except protein. 

The samples selected by the electronic nose have subsequently been submitted to chemical analyses (proteins, lipids, humidity and dry matter), analysis of the volatile compounds, the analysis of volatile fatty acids for the study and the definition of the fermentations in progress, and the electrophoresis investigation of the casein. 

Hageman et al. [3.13] calculated the absorption isotherms for recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbSt) and found 5-8 g of water in 100 g of protein, which was not only on the surface but also inside the protein molecule. Costantino et al. [3.72] estimated the water monolayer M0 (g/100 g dry protein) for various pharmaceutical proteins and for their combination with 50 wt% trehalose or mannitol as excipient. They compared three methods of calculating MQ (1) theoretical (th) from the strongly water binding residues, (2) from conventional adsorption isotherm measurements (ai) and (3) from gravimetric sorption analysis (gsa) performed with a microbalance in a humidity-controlled atmosphere. Table 3.5 summarizes the results for three proteins. The methods described can be helpful for evaluating RM data in protein formulations. 

The second main class of blood constituents used as genetic markers are the polymorphic enzymes. The enzymes of interest to the forensic serologist are primarily located within the red blood cell and are commonly referred to as isoenzymes. These can briefly be described as those enzymatically active proteins which catalyze the same biochemical reactions and occur in the same species but differ in certain of their physicochemical properties. (This description does not exclude the tissue isoenzymes that occur within the same organism however, our consideration deals only with those of the red blood cell in particular.) The occurrence of multi-molecular forms of the same enzyme (isoenzymes) has been known for several decades however, it was not until the Metropolitan Police Laboratory of Scotland Yard adapted electrophoretic techniques to dried blood analysis that these systems were catapulted to the prominence they presently receive (.2). For many of the forensic serologists in the United States, the use of electrophoresis and isoenzyme determination is a recently-inherited capability shared by only a few laboratories. 

Baer, Hiltner, and colleagues (see Hiltner, 1979, and references cited therein) have used dynamic mechanical analysis to examine the hydration of collagen, elastin, and several polypeptides. A torsional pendulum constructed of the sample was examined for low-frequency (i.e., IHz) mechanical loss as a function of hydration and temperature. A common feature is a dispersion that is absent in the dry protein and appears at... 

Clinical analysis of the tear film has become increasingly more developed. Examples include tear osmolarity, tear function index, and tear protein analysis, including lactoferrin, lysozyme, albumin, and immunoglobulin.Tear osmolarity and lactoferrin concentration measurements, in particular, appear to have a reliable positive predictive value among dry eye patients. At this time these techniques have more application in research than in clinical practice. 

By a combined gravimetric and i.r. technique, spectra of lysozyme protein films have been recorded during sorption isotherms at constant water content h (mg per mg dry protein) in the range 0Computer-aided differential analysis shows the effect of progressive hydration on some significant sites of the protein such as the ionizable acidic side-chains and the backbone amide carbonyls, as well as the spectrum of the absorbed water itself. In order to derive thermodynamic properties of these sites, the... 

Dry-weight analysis. If a solution of highly pure enzyme is available, a dry-weight analysis may be possible. Though this should provide an exact value for the enzyme protein content, a great expense in labor and materials has to be devoted to the enzyme purification. Determination of the dry weight of a protein is important for investigations of protein structure. 

At the present time, all methods for protein analysis are empirical by nature, or by virtue of technical necessity. Isolation and direct weighing of the protein would provide an absolute method were it possible to show that the weight determined represents pure, unaltered, completely dry protein. All methods of separating and drying proteins have been more or less empirical, so that uncertainties of a few per cent are usually unavoidable. Other methods depending on the determination of some constituent or some property of the protein which parallels its concentration are inherently empirical, and must be arbitrarily calibrated. 

The direct whole-cell method of Holland et al. was extremely rapid, even in comparison to Lubman s MALDI analysis of fractions collected after bacterial sonnication. With the whole-cell approach bacteria were simply sampled from colonies on an agar plate, mixed with the matrix, air-dried, and introduced in batches into the mass spectrometer for analysis. In all of the spectra obtained in these and later experiments, each bacterial strain showed a few characteristic high-mass ions that were attributed to bacterial proteins. Studies demonstrating the whole cell methodology for strain-level differentiation were reported independently by Claydon et al. at almost the same time.18 Shortly thereafter a third study on whole-cell MALDI included bacteria from pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains appeared.19... 

He et al. (2002) used an off-line HPLC/CE method to map cancer cell extracts. Frozen ovarian cancer cells (containing 107 cells) were reconstituted in 300 pL of deionized water and placed in an ultrasonic bath to lyse the cells. Then the suspension was centrifuged and the solubilized proteins were collected for HPLC fractionation. The HPLC separation was carried out on an instrument equipped with a RP C-4 column, 250 mm x 4.6 mm, packed with 5-pm spherical silica particles. Extracted proteins were dissolved in 300 pL of DI water, and lOOpL was injected onto the column at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Buffer A was 0.1% TEA in water and buffer B was 0.1% TFA in acetonitrile. A two-step gradient, 15-30% B in 15 min followed by 30-70% B in 105 min, was used. The column effluent was sampled every minute into a 96-well microtiter plate with the aid of an automatic fraction collector. After collection, the fractions were dried at room temperature under vacuum. The sample in each well was reconstituted before the CE analysis with 10 pL deionized water. The... 

After 2 h incubation of the prepared antibody beads with UV-crosslinked extract in a cold room, the beads are washed 4 x with 100 /A RIPA buffer (50 mMTris-HCl pH 7.5, 150 rnMNaCl, 1% NP-40, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, and 0.1% SDS) and lx with genomic DNA lysis buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 7.4, 10 mM EDTA, 500 mM NaCl, 2.5 mM DTT, 0.5 mM spermidine, 1% Triton X-100). Approximately 300 /(I of PK solution (1 mg/ml proteinase K in genomic DNA lysis buffer and 0.2 U//A RNase inhibitor) is added to the total lysate previously kept on ice and the beads are then incubated at 37° for 30 min. Gently flick the tubes to resuspend the beads every 10 min during the incubation. After removal of the proteinase K solution, 300 /A of RNA extraction solution (4 M guanidine thiocyanate, 0.5% sarkosyl, and 25 mM sodium citrate, pH7) is added to the beads, incubated for 10 min and the supernatant is mixed with 30 fig yeast tRNA (as a carrier) and 30 fil of 3 M sodium acetate. The RNA solution is phenol-chloroform extracted, ethanol-precipitated, and the pellet washed once with 70% ethanol. The dry pellet is used for 1st strand cDNA synthesis, followed by PCR analysis. The removal of proteins... 

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