Perfusion reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography for protein separation from detergent-containing solutions: An alternative to gel-based approaches

• Published in: Analytical biochemistry 2012-05, Vol.424 (2), p.97-107
• Main Authors: Gorka, Jan, Rohmer, Marion, Bornemann, Sandra, Papasotiriou, Dimitrios G., Baeumlisberger, Dominic, Arrey, Tabiwang N., Bahr, Ute, Karas, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Cattle; Chromatography, Gel; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Chromatography, Reverse-Phase - methods; desorption; Detergents; Detergents - chemistry; digestion; Electron Transport Complex III - isolation & purification; HPLC; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; hydrophobicity; Intact mass measurement; Integral membrane proteins; ionization; mass spectrometry; Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry; membrane proteins; Membrane Proteins - isolation & purification; Molecular Weight; Perfusion chromatography; Porosity; Protein Subunits - isolation & purification; proteins; Proteolysis; Purification; reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography; solubilization; Solutions; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
• ISSN: 0003-2697; 1096-0309
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2012.02.021

Detergents are frequently used for the solubilization of membrane proteins during and after purification steps. Unfortunately some of these detergents impair chromatographic separations and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Perfusion reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP–HPLC) using POROS materials is suited for separating intact proteins solubilized by detergents due to the particles’ highly diffusive pores and chemical stability. In this article, the use of perfusive reversed-phase material packed into small inner diameter capillary columns is presented as a cheap, rapid, and efficient method for the removal of different types of detergents from protein solutions. The ability to purify and separate the subunits of membrane protein complexes with self-packed capillary columns is exemplified for bovine cytochrome bc1 complex. Even highly hydrophobic subunits can be detected in collected fractions by intact mass measurements and identified after proteolytic digestion and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem MS (MALDI MS/MS). The comparison with a gel-based approach shows that this method is a valuable alternative for purification and separation of intact proteins with subsequent MS analysis and that hydrophobic proteins are even better represented in the LC-based approach.