Production of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins for Biophysical Studies: Tips and Tricks

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Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) have no single, fixed tertiary structure, yet they take on many vital functions in biology. In recent years, considerable effort has been put into the structural characterization of their conformational ensembles, to understand the link between the transient, short- and long-range organizations of IDPs and their functions. Such biophysical studies require substantial amounts of pure protein, representing a major bottleneck in the studies of IDPs. However, the unique physicochemical properties resulting from their compositional bias may be exploited for simple yet effective purification strategies. In this chapter, we provide tips and tricks for IDP production and describe the most important analyses to carry out before bringing an IDP of interest to the laboratory. We outline four purification protocols utilizing the unique properties of IDPs as well as some commonly encountered challenges and pitfalls.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIntrinsically Disordered Proteins : Methods and Protocols
EditorsBirthe B. Kragelund, Karen Skriver
Number of pages15
PublisherHumana Press
Publication date2020
Pages195-209
Chapter9
ISBN (Print)978-1-0716-0523-3
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-0716-0524-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
SeriesMethods in Molecular Biology
Volume2141
ISSN1064-3745

    Research areas

  • Heat treatment, IDP, Intrinsically disordered proteins, Ion-exchange chromatography, Isoelectric precipitation, Protein purification, Purification optimization, Reversed-phase chromatography, Troubleshooting

ID: 247383768