Blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE) for the identification and analysis of multiprotein complexes

Sci STKE. 2006 Jul 25;2006(345):pl4. doi: 10.1126/stke.3452006pl4.

Abstract

Multiprotein complexes (MPCs) play crucial roles in cell signaling. Two kinds of MPCs can be distinguished: (i) Constitutive, abundant MPCs--for example, multisubunit receptors or transcription factors; and (ii) signal-induced, transient, low copy number MPCs--for example, complexes that form upon binding of Src-homology 2 (SH2) domain-containing proteins to tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins. Blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE) is a separation method with a higher resolution than gel filtration or sucrose density ultracentrifugation that can be used to analyze abundant, stable MPCs from 10 kD to 10 MD. In contrast to immunoprecipitation and two-hybrid approaches, it allows the determination of the size, the relative abundance, and the subunit composition of an MPC. In addition, it shows how many different complexes exist that share a common subunit, whether free monomeric forms of individual subunits exist, and whether these parameters change upon cell stimulation. Here, we give a detailed protocol for the separation of MPCs from total cellular lysates or of prepurified MPCs by one-dimensional BN-PAGE or by two-dimensional BN-PAGE and SDS-PAGE.

MeSH terms

  • Blotting, Western
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional / methods
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / methods*
  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Membrane Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Multiprotein Complexes / analysis*
  • Multiprotein Complexes / chemistry
  • Multiprotein Complexes / isolation & purification*
  • Phosphotyrosine / immunology
  • Protein Subunits / analysis
  • Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / analysis
  • Rosaniline Dyes
  • Silver Staining

Substances

  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Multiprotein Complexes
  • Protein Subunits
  • Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell
  • Rosaniline Dyes
  • Phosphotyrosine
  • Coomassie blue