Salting IN, Salting OUT, and Dialysis of

Proteins.

Objective:

To learn the techniques of isolation of proteins on Basis of their Solubility in water.

Introduction:

;Differential Solubility
.Loss of solubility = loss of affinity of solute for the solvent
.Protein solubility affected by : PH( =7), ionic strength, temperature

Proteins show a variation in solubility depending on their solution ionic environments.

Salting in:
      The effects of salts such as sodium chloride on increasing the solubility of 
proteins is often referred to as salting in. 
When low concentrations of salt is added to a protein solution, the solubility
increases. This could be explained by the following:
Salt molecules stabilize protein molecules by :
 decreasing the electrostatic energy between the protein molecules which
increase the solubility of proteins.

Salting out:
When the ionic strength of a protein solution is increased by adding salt, the
solubility decreases, and protein precipitates. This could be explained by the
following:
The salt molecules compete with the protein molecules in binding with water.**

Some salts, such as high concentrations of ammonium sulfate, have general effects on
solvent structure that lead to decreased protein solubility and salting out. In this case, 
the protein molecules tend to associate with each other because protein­protein 
interactions become energetically more favorable than protein­solvent interaction. 
Proteins have characteristic salting out points, and these are used in protein 
separations in crude extracts.
The most effective region of salting out is at the isoelectric point of the protein 
because all proteins exhibit minimum solubility in solutions of constant ionic strength 
at their isoelectric points.

The salt commonly used is ammonium sulphate because:

1. Its large solubility in water.
2. Its relative freedom from temperature effects.

3. It has no harmful effects on most of the proteins.

Dialysis:

Separation of  dissolved small molecules from macromolecules by virtue of their 
molecular dimensions  through a semi permeable dialysis bag  is called dialysis.

One application of dialysis is desalting a solution. The salt molecules move from the 
more concentrated solution ( from inside the dialysis bag) to the less concentrated 
solution ( e.g. distilled water).
Factors affecting the rate of dialysis:

1. The ratio of the higher to the lower conc of that molecule on the two sides of 
the membrane ( to maximize the rate of movement it's necessary to stir the 
buffer 
2. The pore size of the membrane

3. The size and charge of the dialyzable molecule 

In this experiment myoglobin is isolated from skeletal muscle by salting out technique
which discards up to 75% of the crude proteins in the protein purification process.

Protein Purification 1st Step:

We usually measure the total concentration of proteins rather than its type by using a
general protein detection method (as Biuret Test) in addition of a specefic prorein test
after each step of protein purification (as salting out ) to follow the purification steps
of the target protein, But in this lab we will only take one purification step (Part 1)
with only the Biuret Test ( part 2).

Part One ( 1 ) .
Salting Out Technique :
Materials and apparatus:
1- Skeletal muscle.
2- Waring Blender.
3- Solid ammonium sulphate.
4- Magnatic stirrer.
5- Spectrophotometer.
6- PH meter.

Method:
1- Cut skeletal muscle (100 g) into small pieces.
2- Homogenize it for 10 secons In 100 ml distilled water at room temperature in
a blender.
3- Devide the homogenate in 5 equal parts.
4- Allow the homogenate to stand for 20 min. , and then Centrifuge at 2000 rpm
(rpm = round per minutes) at 4O C for 10 min.
5- Descard the residue (pelette) and adjust the pH of supernatant to Ph7.0 by
adding ammonium hydroxide solution (2M) (NH4OH).
NOT: We used sodium hydroxide (NaOH (0.1 M very diluted strong base) )
in replace of ammonium hydroxid solution.

6- Measure the volume of the sample (the supernatant) ( ex. 4 ml)

7- Calculate the required grams of ammonium sulfate salt needed to saturate the
solution to 35 % of salt. By using the attached table whats called as
Nomograme (Published Nomograme), then
( example: X1 g ----------- < it is found in 1000 ml of protein solution as
the information found in the ammonium sulfate saturation table paper, so:
in ?g >-------------- In 4 ml ( the supernatant volume)
? = N1 g of salt.
8- Add (N) grame of salt to the protein solution very slowly and mix during the
addition (don`t stop), for best results the addition should be very slowly with
constant stirring. To get a 0 – 35% saturation of the sulution.
9- Centrifuge the tube sample at 3500 rpm for 10 minutes.
10- Discard the pellet and measure the volume of the supernatant , record the
voume ( ex. 3.5 ml)
11- Calculate again the required amount of salt to be add to saturate the protein
solution to 55 % of salt.
(ex. X2 g -------- in 1000 ml of protein solution
? -------- 3.5 ml
? = N2 g of salt.
12- Adda ( N2) g of salt to the supernatant ( solution) slowly while mixing.
13- Centrifuge the sample at 3500 rpm for 10 min. also.
14- Discard the supernatant and dissolve the pellet (which contain the desired
protein (Myoglobin) ) 10 ml of Distild water.

Desalting:
15- Remove the ammoniume sulphate used in the salting out procedure by dialysis
using dialysis tubing ( or bag)
 16- Place the protein solution in the dialysis bag made by tying knots in the end of
cellulose dialysis tubing.
17- Put the sealed bag in a large volume of cold water which is being moderately
remove and the protein solution is equilibrated with water ( at least 6 – 8 hours
are required for complete dialyisis or overnight).
18- After that, transport the remaining protein solution into new centrifuge tube
and store it at 4-8 Co temp. (refrigerator) until use.
19- Find out the amount of protein in the dialysed sample using Biuret Method.
( The nex Lab )
NOTE: record your calculation with the method steps.

BIURET ASSAY OF PROTEIN

BIURET TEST
(Part 2)

OBJECTIVE:
This Test used to detect and determine the protein concentration. So, it can be used for
both qualitative and aquantitative analysis of protein.

INTRODUCTION & PRINCIPLE:

This test or reaction is given by peptiedes containing at least tow peptied bonds, i.e. it
is not given by dipeptides and most of the free amino acids in general ( except
histidine,serine, and therionine which give areaction)

The principle underlying the test can be demonstrated with the chemical compound
biuret which, just as proteins, is able to complex copper (II) ions to give a violet
colored complex. The biuret assay does not in fact use biuret, but is also named as it
detects the peptied bond between the urea molecules or between the amino acids.
So, the biuret reaction takes its name from the fact that biuret itself, obtained by
heating urea gives a similare coloured complex with copric ions.

2NH2 – CO – NH2 ----heating-----> NH3 + NH2 – CO – NH – CO – NH2

(Urea) (Biuret)

Not all Biuret Test actually require the same reagent ( Biuret reagent, our
experiment`s reagent today). Rather, the term '' biuret test'' is a generic term for
testing of proteins by using copper (II) sulphate solution in an alkaline environment.

The Biuret Reagent: (alkaline copper sulphate)

It is made of potassium hydroxide (KOH) or ( sodium hydroxide (NaOH) ) and
copper sulphate (CuSO4), together with potasium sodium tartarate. The blue reagent
turns violet in the presence of proteins, and changes to pink when combined with
short-chain polypeptides. The potasium hydroxide does not participate in the reaction
at all, but is merely there to provide an alkaline medium so that the reaction can take
place.

This reagent is commonly used in a biuret protein assay, a colorimetric assay.

The biuret reagent react with peptides and proteins to give a violet colored Cu+2
peptied complex. This colored complex can be measured quantitatively by
spectrophotometer in the visible region. The colore obtained is directly proportional to
the number of peptied bond present in the protein.

In this experiment the amount of isolated protein from skeletal muscle is determined
by the Biuret assay and from the standerd curve of Bovine Serum Albumin ( BSA).

Materials and Method:

1- standard Protein (5 g/L of Bovine serum albumin)

2- Your Myoglobin Protein Sample (1) (isolated from skeletal muscle by
salting out technique).
3- New Protein sample (2) (Bovine serum albumin).
4- Label 11 test tubes and add to each tube the solutions as the following table:

) 11
Tube 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Blank
Standard 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Dis.Water 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 1
Sample 1 1
`Sample 1 1
Sample 2 1
`Sample 2 1
Biuret
. reagent 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5- Mix will.
6- Allow to stand for 20 min.
7- Read the absorbance at 540 nm against the blank.
8- Record your results in the Result table.
9- Plot a standard curve (graph) using concentration of bovine serum albumin
against the absorbance at 540 nm.
10- Determine the concentration of protein present in sample 1,1`, and 2,2`.
11- Record the concentration in the result table.
12- Calculate the average of the two concentration of sample 1 (1, &1`), and
sample 2 (2,&2`).

Calculation:
 1- Calculation of Standared Protein serial concentraions (Std. Pro.tubes):
By using the dilution law (Dilution Eqation) as following:
C1 x V1 = C2 X V2

When C1 , and V1 = The main standared concentration and its required

volume to be diluted untile one (1) ml. of volume ( V2 ) with distald
water to give C2 concentration ( the unknown concentration).

So, to calculate the concetration of diluted standared protein in tube no.

one, which prepared by take 0.1 ml of main standard protein (stock Std.
protein) with 0.9 ml of dist.water :
C1 = 5 g/L , V1 = 0.1, C2 = ? , V2 = 1 ml
C1 x V1 = C2 x V2
5 x 0.1 = C2 x 1
C2 = 5 x 0.1 / 1 ----- C2 = 0.5 g/ L.

2- Concentration of samples (1 &2): From the standared curve, what you

built it depending on the standared protein tubes (known concentration).

Results:

Tube No. Absorbance Protein conc. ( g/L ) Average. (g/L)

(nm)

Blank (11) 0.0

1 0.5

2 1.0

3 2.0

4 3.0

5 4.0

6 5.0

7 (sample 1) ? ( from the standared * ( conc. Of tube 7

curve) + 8 )/ 2

8 (sample 1`) ?

9 (sample 2) ? * ( C. of tube 9
+10) /2

10 (sample 2`) ?

Discussion :
Discuse your samples results, which of them has the hyighest content of protein in
general?
How was your standared curve accuracy? Is it accurate?