Mitochondria are essential organelles in cellular metabolism. These organelles are bounded by two membranes, the outer and inner membrane. Especially the inner membrane comprises a high content of proteins, for example, the protein complexes of the respiratory chain. High-resolution separation and analysis of such membrane proteins, for example, by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE), is hampered by their hydrophobicity and tendency for aggregation. Here, we describe the separation of mitochondrial membrane proteins of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by 16-benzyldimethyl-n-hexadecylammonium chloride/sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (16-BAC/SDS-PAGE). This method enables the separation of membrane proteins owing to the solubilizing power of the ionic detergents 16-BAC and SDS, respectively. Mitochondria were isolated from yeast cultures by differential centrifugation and were further purified by free flow electrophoresis (FFE) in zone-electrophoretic mode (ZE). Subsequently, membrane proteins from ZE-FFE-purified mitochondria were enriched by carbonate extraction and subjected to 16-BAC/SDS-PAGE. The resulting protein spot patterns were visualized by a highly sensitive fluorescence stain with ruthenium-II-bathophenantroline disulfonate chelate (RuBP), and by colloidal Coomassie staining. Proteins were identified by Maldi-Tof mass spectrometry and peptide mass fingerprinting.

• PMID: 19153686
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Journal Article | Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Authors

Braun RJ, Kinkl N, Zischka H, Ueffing M

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