Protein purification

Protein purification

Protein purification is a series of processes intended to isolate one or a few proteins from a complex mixture, usually cells, tissues, or whole organisms. Protein purification is vital for the characterization of the function, structure, and interactions of the protein of interest.

Pronunciation

Protein purification: /ˈproʊtiːn ˌpjʊərɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

Etymology

The term "protein" comes from the Greek word "proteios", meaning "primary" or "in the lead". The term "purification" comes from the Latin word "purificare", which means "to make pure".

Related terms

• Protein: A large molecule composed of one or more chains of amino acids in a specific order.
• Purification: The process of extracting something from a substance.
• Amino acid: Organic compounds that combine to form proteins.
• Enzyme: Proteins that act as biological catalysts.
• Cell: The basic structural, functional, and biological unit of all known living organisms.
• Tissue: An ensemble of similar cells and their extracellular matrix from the same origin that together carry out a specific function.
• Organism: An individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.

Process

Protein purification involves a series of processes that are designed to remove non-protein elements. The steps usually include cell lysis, protein extraction, protein precipitation, dialysis, and chromatography.

Techniques

There are many different methods of protein purification, including ultracentrifugation, salting out, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, and size-exclusion chromatography.

Applications

Protein purification is used in a variety of applications, including in the development of vaccines, in the study of protein structure and function, and in the production of enzymes for use in industry.

See also

• Protein structure
• Protein function
• Protein-protein interaction
• Protein engineering

External links

• Medical encyclopedia article on Protein purification
• Wikipedia's article - Protein purification

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