Nucleic acids removal

Effective nucleic acid removal is particularly important when purifying a protein destined for therapeutic use. Regulatory authorities generally insist that the nucleic acid content present in the final preparation be, at most, a few picograms per therapeutic dose (see Chapter 7). 

Nucleic acids may also be removed by treatment with nucleases, which catalyse the enzymatic degradation of these biomolecules. Indeed, nuclease treatment is quickly becoming the most popular method of nucleic acid removal during protein purification. This treatment is efficient, inexpensive and, unlike many of the chemical precipitants used, nuclease preparations themselves are innocuous and do not compromise the final protein product. 

The commercial availability of DNAse at reasonable cost has largely eliminated the need to use polycations for nucleic acid removal. A small amount of DNAse allowed to incubate in a crude homogenate for 30 to 60 minutes at 4°C will degrade the DNA to pieces that are sufficiently small as not to seriously compromise subsequent purification procedures. It should be emphasized, however, that such a procedure only clips the DNA into small pieces it does not degrade it to the level of single nucleotide residues. 

These mechanically based protein release methods have several undesirable properties. One problem is that extensive fragmentation of the cells makes the subsequent centrifugation difficult (2.3). Adding to the problem of cell fragment removal is the high viscosity imparted to the solution by the released nucleic acids (4). A nucleic acid removal step is necessary to decrease the solution viscosity and avoid potential interference with fractional precipitation and chromatography (5,). Another undesirable property is that the harsh action of mechanical disruption causes the release... 

A 1000-litre fermenter has been used to produce a continuous feed of Escherichia coli containing a high level of j3-D alactosidase. Investigation of the individual unit operations for the isolation of the enzyme, cell disruption, nucleic acid removal, protein precipitation and solid-liquid separation after each stage, permitted operation of a semi-continuous process which would yield 130 g protein hr comprising 23% j3-D-galactosidase. 

Trichloroethanol may be used analogously. The 2,2,2-trichloroethyl (Tee) group is best removed by reduction with copper-zinc alloy in DMF at 30 °C (F. Eckstein, nucleic acid synthesis see section 4.1.1. 

Chapter 27 has been shortened by removing mate rial related to nucleic acids and its title changed to... 

In many cases rapid and effective removal of contaminants and undesirable products such as nucleic acids (qv) and polysaccharides is achieved. 

The presence of nucleic acids ia yeast is oae of the maia problems with their use ia human foods. Other animals metabolize uric acid to aHantoia, which is excreted ia the uriae. Purines iagested by humans and some other primates are metabolized to uric acid, which may precipitate out ia tissue to cause gout (37). The daily human diet should contain no more than about 2 g of nucleic acid, which limits yeast iatake to a maximum of 20 g. Thus, the use of higher concentrations of yeast proteia ia human food requires removal of the nucleic acids. Unfortunately, yields of proteia from extracts treated as described are low, and the cost of the proteia may more than double. 

On homogenization, the lysate may drastically increase in viscosity due to DNA release. This can be ameliorated to some extent using multiple passes to reduce the viscosity. Alternatively, precipitants or nucleic acid digesting enzymes can be used to remove these viscosity-enhancing contaminants. 

Sephadex. Other carbohydrate matrices such as Sephadex (based on dextran) have more uniform particle sizes. Their advantages over the celluloses include faster and more reproducible flow rates and they can be used directly without removal of fines . Sephadex, which can also be obtained in a variety of ion-exchange forms (see Table 15) consists of beads of a cross-linked dextran gel which swells in water and aqueous salt solutions. The smaller the bead size, the higher the resolution that is possible but the slower the flow rate. Typical applications of Sephadex gels are the fractionation of mixtures of polypeptides, proteins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides and for desalting solutions. 

Lipoteichoic acids (from gram-positive bacteria) [56411-57-5J. Extracted by hot phenol/water from disrupted cells. Nucleic acids that were also extracted were removed by treatment with nucleases. Nucleic resistant acids, proteins, polysaccharides and teichoic acids were separated from lipoteichoic acids by anion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel or by hydrophobic interaction on octyl-Sepharose [Fischer et al. Ear J Biochem 133 523 1983]. 

Classical gel electrophoresis has been used extensively for protein and nucleic acid purification and characterization [9, 10], but has not been used routinely for small molecule separations, other than for polypeptides. A comparison between TLC and electrophoresis reveals that while detection is usually accomplished off-line in both electrophoretic and TLC methods, the analyte remains localized in the TLC bed and the mobile phase is immediately removed subsequent to chromatographic development. In contrast, in gel electrophoresis, the gel matrix serves primarily as an anti-... 

The removal and reduction of the nucleic acid content of various SCPs is achieved by chemical treatment with sodium hydroxide solution or high salt solution (10%). As a result, crystals of sodium urate form and are removed from the SCP solution.16,17 The quality of SCP can be upgraded by the destruction of cell walls. That may enhance the digestibility of SCP. With chemical treatment the nucleic acid content of SCP is reduced. 

The theory and application of this fluorescence method have been discussed in detail by LePecq and others (3,8). The assay requires that there is sufficient ionic strength to minimize ionic binding (e.g., O.IM sodium chloride), that the pH is 4-10, that no heavy metals are present, that the fluorescence is not enhanced on binding to other excipients (e.g., proteins) and that at least portions of the nucleic acids are not complexed. These requirements can usually he met when dealing with recombinant products in some cases the samples must he manipulated to create the appropriate conditions. In the intercalative method of dye binding, proteins rarely interfere with the assay, and procedures have been developed to remove the few interferences they may cause (e.g., the use of heparin or enzymatic digestion of the protein 9). 

It should be pointed out that when using ethidium bromide the sensitivity of the assays varies depending on the physical state of the nucleic acids (see Table I). Ethidium does not discriminate between RNA and DNA, although dyes are available which bind DNA exclusively, so the relative amounts of each may be determined by taking two sets of measurements. Alternatively, nucleases (DNA-ase or RNA-ase) can be used to exclusively remove one or the other in a mixture. Nucleic acids from different sources (see Table II) also show a variation in sensitivity, and the fluorescence assay lacks the selectivity of the hybridization technique. Nevertheless, for rapid screening or quality-control applications the fluorescence assay is still the method of choice. 

A typical procedure is shown in Figure 2. Other dyes besides ethidium can be used, although ethidium has an advantage in that its excitation emission bands are well removed from any protein absorbances. A standard curve can be constructed for the nucleic acid of concern and the limits of detection established. In Step 3, proteolytic enzymes may be substituted for heparin, or the step may be bypassed in the case of proteins which do not interfere. After measurement of the unknown sample the nucleic acid concentration may be simply calculated or read from the standard curve. 

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