Radiation inactivation method

Radiation Inactivation Method as a Tool to Study Structure-Function Relationships... 

Beauregard, Guy, Maret, Arlette, Salvayre, Robert, and Potier, Michel, The Radiation Inactivation Method as a Tool to Study Structure-Function... 

Other review articles have been published on the radiation inactivation method (Pollard et al., 1955 Kempner and Schlegel, 1979), two of them recently (Jung, 1984 Harmon et al., 1985). Since we do not want to be repetitious, the theory and experimental procedure will only be described briefly, although enough details will be given to allow the reader to follow the discussion. We will focus our attention primarily on the basic concepts of target theory and protein inactivation. 

Table II distinguishes between concepts and experimentally determined values obtained by the radiation inactivation method. We use the terminology of boolean logic to explain various alternatives between experimental values and concepts corresponding to subunits or whole oligomer of proteins. In all the relations we develop, parameters on the left-hand side of the arrow are experimentally determined, and those on the right-hand side are deduced for each particular situation. We will describe the various possibilities that may be encountered when irradiating pure monomeric, homo-oligomeric, and hetero-oligomeric proteins of known My and subunit size.

For proteins composed of several subunits of varying sizes, the radiation inactivation method might help in defining which subunits are required for the expression of a given biological activity. We will describe various situations that may be encountered when studying such systems. 

The experimental evidence presented suggests that the RIS and target size correspond to the size of the polypeptide portion of the molecule and not to associated structures such as lipids or carbohydrates, even though, as in the case of carbohydrates, these compounds are covalently bound to the protein. Therefore it is incorrect to state that the RIS obtained by the radiation inactivation method gives the of lipid-associated proteins, detergent-associated proteins or glycoproteins. 

Harmon, J., et al. (1985). Molecular Weight Determinations from Radiation Inactivation, Methods Enzymol. 117 65-94. 

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