Sulfo-NHS

To check if PemB is surface exposed, E. chrysanthemi cells were subjected to proteolysis. Treatment of the cell suspension with trypsin, proteinase K or chimotrypsin at a concentration of 0.1 to 1 mg/ml for 1 h did not cause PemB proteolysis or its liberation into the medium. Cell pre-treatment with EDTA-lysozyme, which renders the periplasmic proteins accessible to proteases, gave no effect. PemB was also resistant to proteolytic digestion in extract of cells disrupted by sonication or in a French press. Only addition of Triton X-100 (up to 0.1%) causing formation of the micelles with PemB lead to a quick proteolyis of this protein (data not shown). In another approach to analyse the PemB exposition, bacterial cells were labelled with sulfo-NHS-biotin. This compound is unable to cross membranes and biotinylation... 

Figure 3. E. chrysanthemi cell surface labelling with sulfo-NHS-biotin. After labelling, the proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE, blotted onto nitrocellulose and revealed with PemB-antibodies (A) or with streptavidin-peroxidasc (B). Lane 1 A350 (wild type) lane 2 A837 kdgRy, lane 3 A350/pPME6. An arrowhead indicates the PemB position.

Sulfo-LC-SMPT is not as stable as SMPT. The sulfo-NHS ester is more susceptible to hydrolysis in aqueous solutions and the pyridyl disulfide group is more easily reduced to the free sulfhydryl. Stock solutions of sulfo-LC-SMPT may be prepared in water, but should be used immediately to prevent loss of amine coupling ability. 

It should be noted that complete blocking of all amines on proteins with sulfo-NHS acetate may cause precipitation or loss of native structure and function. The acetate modifications... 

Figure 1.118 Sulfo-NHS acetate may be used to block amine groups, forming permanent amide bond derivatives.

Add a 25-molar excess of sulfo-NHS acetate over the amount of amines present in the sample. If the precise amount of amines is not known, adding an equal mass of reagent to the mass of protein will provide a large excess of reactivity to completely block all amines. 

Figure 2.1 Three types of fluorophenyl esters have been used for coupling to amine-containing molecules. The PFP and TFP esters are relatively hydrophobic and typically have better stability toward hydrolysis in aqueous solution than NHS esters. The STP ester is water-soluble due to the negatively charged sulfonate group, and it provides better solubility to associated crosslinkers or bioconjugation reagents similar to that of a sulfo-NHS ester group.

There are some side reactions that may occur when using EDC with proteins. In addition to reacting with carboxylates, EDC itself can form a stable complex with exposed sulfhydryl groups (Carraway and Triplett, 1970). Tyrosine residues can react with EDC, most likely through the phe-nolate ionized form of its side chain (Carraway and Koshland, 1968). The imidazolyl group of histidine may react with sulfo-NHS esters, resulting in an active carbonyl imidazole group which subsequently hydrolyzes (Cuatrecasas and Parikh, 1972). Finally, EDC may promote unwanted polymerization due to the usual abundance of both amines and carboxylates on protein molecules. 

Figure 3.2 The efficiency of an EDC-mediated reaction may be increased through the formation of a sulfo-NHS ester intermediate. The sulfo-NHS ester is more effective at reacting with amine-containing molecules. Thus, higher yields of amide bond formation may be realized using this two-step process as opposed to using a single-step EDC reaction.

In addition to the potential side reactions of EDC as mentioned previously (Section 1.1, this chapter), the additional efficiency obtained by the use of a sulfo-NHS intermediate in the process may cause other problems. In some cases, the conjugation actually may be too efficient to result in a soluble or active complex. Particularly when coupling some peptides to carrier proteins, the use of EDC/sulfo-NHS often causes severe precipitation of the conjugate. Scaling back the amount of EDC/sulfo-NHS added to the reaction may be done to solve this problem. However, eliminating the addition of sulfo-NHS altogether may have to be done in some instances to preserve the solubility of the final product. 

Figure 3.3 EDC may be used in tandem with sulfo-NHS to create an amine-reactive protein derivative containing active ester groups. The activated protein can couple with amine-containing compounds to form amide bond linkages.

Add to the solution in step 1 a quantity of EDC and sulfo-NHS (Thermo Fisher) to obtain a concentration of 2 mM EDC and 5 mM sulfo-NHS. To aid in aliquoting the correct amount of these reagents, they may be quickly dissolved in the reaction buffer at a higher concentration, and then a volume immediately pipetted into the protein solution to obtain the proper molar quantities. 

CMC should be able to participate in the two-step reaction using a sulfo-NHS ester intermediate similar to EDC, however there are no reports in the literature to this effect. Protocols for the use of this reagent in biological crosslinking applications should be essentially the same as those given previously for EDC, except substituting a molar equivalent quantity of CMC. See Sections 1.1 and 1.2 in this chapter for additional information concerning carbodiimide reactions. 

Figure 4.3 In aqueous solution, a sulfo-NHS ester can either couple to an amine group to form an amide bond or react with water to hydrolyze back to a carboxylate. Both processes release the sulfo-NHS leaving group.

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