Protein structure, function, and
signaling are a large portion
of biochemistry. Because of this, proteins are often used as model
systems in biochemistry laboratory courses, where a course-long project
might comprise protein expression, purification, and characterization.
Two common protein expression methods are isopropyl β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) induction, which utilizes easy-to-make
media but requires extensive cell-growth monitoring that is time-intensive,
and autoinduction, which employs multicomponent media that are time-consuming
to make but require no cell-growth monitoring. A protein expression
method that is a hybrid of IPTG induction and autoinduction is presented.
The hybrid method utilizes the medium of IPTG induction and the no-cell-growth-monitoring
induction process of autoinduction, saving hands-on time in the protein
expression phase to allow more time for protein characterization while
still having students execute each step.
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