Studying protein-protein interactions using surface plasmon resonance

Methods Mol Biol. 2015:1278:109-38. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2425-7_7.

Abstract

Protein-protein interactions regulate many important cellular processes, including carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, cell cycle and cell death regulation, protein and nucleic acid metabolism, signal transduction, and cellular architecture. A complete understanding of cellular function depends on full characterization of the complex network of cellular protein-protein interactions, including measurements of their kinetic and binding properties. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is one of the commonly used technologies for detailed and quantitative studies of protein-protein interactions and determination of their equilibrium and kinetic parameters. SPR provides excellent instrumentation for a label-free, real-time investigation of protein-protein interactions. This chapter details the experimental design and proper use of the instrumentation for a kinetic experiment. It will provide readers with basic theory, assay setup, and the proper way of reporting this type of results with practical tips useful for SPR-based studies. A generic protocol for immobilizing ligands using amino coupling chemistry, also useful if an antibody affinity capture approach is used, performing kinetic studies, and collecting and analyzing data is described.

MeSH terms

  • Kinetics
  • Ligands
  • Protein Binding*
  • Protein Interaction Mapping / methods*
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Surface Plasmon Resonance / methods*

Substances

  • Ligands
  • Proteins