Gingipains (RgpA, RgpB, and Kgp) are major virulence factors of the periodontitis-causing bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis. Isolation of gingipains from the crude protein sample of P. gingivalis is critical for studying the underlying invasion mechanism that contributes to periodontitis, Alzheimer’s disease, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Chromatographic processes and molecular cloning are two standard techniques often used for gingipains isolation, which are time-consuming and costly. In this study, considerably easier methods based on passive-mediated diffusion gel elution and gelatin zymogram were used to isolate and characterize gingipains. Importantly, proteins eluted from Native-PAGE showed enzymatic activity for both Rgp and Kgp. In gelatin zymography, the proteins with a molecular size of ~50 kDa and above 245 kDa were suggested as arginine-specific gingipains. The passive diffusion-mediated gel elution method is a simpler technique to isolate gingipains from crude protein samples of P. gingivalis. By using covalent and highly specific gingipain inhibitors, gelatin zymography enabled an individual characterization of gingipain activity and inhibition. Finally, this protocol can be easily extended by adding the isoelectric focusing to further improve the protein separation and characterization.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.