SYPRO Ruby protein gel stain is compatible with a variety of imaging platforms since it absorbs maximally in the ultraviolet (280 nm) and visible (470 nm) regions of the spectrum. Dye localization is achieved by noncovalent, electrostatic and hydrophobic binding to proteins, with signal being detected at 610 nm. Since proteins are not covalently modified by the dye, compatibility with downstream proteomics techniques such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight mass spectrometry is assured. The principal limitation of the original formulation of SYPRO Ruby protein gel stain, is that it was only compatible with a limited number of gel fixation procedures. Too aggressive a fixation protocol led to diminished signal intensity and poor detection sensitivity. This is particularly apparent when post-staining gels subjected to labeling with other fluorophores such as Schiff's base staining of glycoproteins with fluorescent hydrazides. Consequently, we have developed an improved formulation of SYPRO Ruby protein gel stain that is fully compatible with commonly implemented protein fixation procedures and is suitable for post-staining gels after detection of glycoproteins using the green fluorescent Pro-Q Emerald 300 glycoprotein stain or detection of beta-glucuronidase using the green fluorescent ELF 97 beta-D-glucuronide. The new stain formulation is brighter, making it easier to manually excise spots for peptide mass profiling. An additional benefit of the improved formulation is that it permits staining of proteins in isoelectric focusing gels, without the requirement for caustic acids.

The fluorescence of proteins stained with Deep Purple and SYPRO Ruby was measured over a time course of UV transillumination to determine the relative photostability of each stain. Mean spot fluorescence (n = 200 matched spots) in gels stained with Deep Purple decreased 27% following 2 min of UV transillumination, compared to SYPRO Ruby, which decreased 17%. After 19 min, an 83% decrease in Deep Purple fluorescence was observed, compared to 44% for SYPRO Ruby. By interpolation, the half-life of Deep Purple fluorescence was estimated to be approximately 6 min. The half-life of SYPRO Ruby fluorescence was not reached during the 19 min time course. Further, differential staining of proteins was observed in gels stained with Deep Purple and SYPRO Ruby as compared to colloidal Coomassie Brilliant Blue and silver staining.

The thrombin-catalyzed cleavage of N-terminal fibrinopeptide A (FPA) from the two Aalpha-chains of fibrinogen exposes aggregation sites with the critical sequence GPR located just behind FPA. It is well known that exposure of both GPR sites transforms fibrinogen into self-aggregating, fully coagulable alpha-fibrin monomers, but the fibrin precursor with one site exposed and one FPA intact has eluded description. The formation of this "alpha-profibrin" in the course of thrombin reactions and its distribution among both the aggregating and non-aggregating components of the reactions are characterized here by immunoprobing electrophoretic and gel chromatographic separations using monoclonal antibodies specific for FPA and for exposed GPR sites. These analyses show alpha-profibrin to be a non-aggregating derivative indistinguishable from fibrinogen in solutions that are rich in fibrinogen relative to dissolved fibrin. But alpha-profibrin forms soluble complexes with alpha-fibrin monomer under conditions in which it and fibrin predominate over fibrinogen. It was isolated as a complex with fibrin by gel chromatography of cryoprecipitates and then separated from the fibrin either by electrophoretic gel shifts induced with a peptide analog of the GPR aggregation site or by chromatographic gel shifts induced with monoclonal anti-FPA antibody. The weak aggregation of alpha-profibrin with itself and with fibrinogen conforms with prior indications that coupled interactions through the paired GPR sites on fibrin monomers are pivotal to their aggregation. It is suggested that alpha-profibrin may be a hypercoagulable fibrin precursor because it is converted to alpha-fibrin monomer faster than fibrinogen converts to monomer.

Fractionation of complex samples at the cellular, subcellular, protein or peptide level is an indispensable strategy to improve the sensitivity in mass spectrometry-based proteomic profiling. This study revisits, evaluates, and compares the most common gel-based protein separation techniques i.e., 1-D SDS PAGE, preparative 1-D SDS PAGE, isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients (IEF-IPG), and 2-D PAGE in their performance as fractionation approaches in nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis of a mixture of protein standards and mitochondrial extracts isolated from rat liver. This work demonstrates that all the above techniques provide complementary protein identification results, but 1-D SDS PAGE and IEF-IPG had the highest number of identifications. The IEF-IPG technique resulted in the highest average number of detected peptides per protein. The 2-D PAGE was evaluated as a protein fractionation approach. This work shows that the recovery of proteins and resulting proteolytic digests is highly dependent on the total volume of the gel matrix. The performed comparison of the fractionation techniques demonstrates the potential of a combination of orthogonal 1-D SDS PAGE and IEF-IPG for the improved sensitivity of profiling without significant decrease in throughput.

The fast, efficient, and accurate release of proteins from cells and tissues is a critically important initial step in most analytical processes and is essential to reliable proteomic analyses. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE) 1 can be an accurate representation of a proteome only if the entire protein constituency of cells is recovered during the sample preparation process. Pressure cycling technology (PCT) uses alternating cycles of high and low hydrostatic pressure to effectively induce the lysis of cells and tissues in preparation for 2DGE and other analytical or preparative methods. Rapid cycling between high and low pressure is more disruptive than high pressure alone, as evidenced by the increased protein yields from Saccharomyces cerevisae correlating to the number of pressure cycles rather than the total elapsed time at high pressure [1]. Similarly, Herrero and coworkers [2] reported a 20% increase in phycobiliproteins yielded from Spirulina platensis when multiple iterations of a pressurized liquid extraction method were performed. Previously, Geiser and coworkers [3] reported the release of 37% more protein from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by PCT than by sonication. From gram-negative bacteria, PCT reportedly yielded 14.2% more protein from Escherichia coli than did bead beating [4,5] and yielded 17.1% more protein from Rhodopseudomonas palustris than did enzymatic lysis with lysozyme [6]. For mammalian tissues, PCT also isolated more protein from liver, including several unique proteins that were not isolated by conventional homogenization techniques [7]. From adipose tissue, PCT extracted more protein than did pulverization under liquid nitrogen and detergent extraction of the triturate. The Barocycler NEP-3229 instrument, disposable polypropylene PULSE Tubes FT-500, and ProteoSOLVE IEF Reagent were obtained from Pressure BioSciences (West Bridgewater, MA, USA). Linear immobilized pH gradients (IPGs, pH 3-10) were obtained from Proteome Systems (Woburn, MA, USA). Nonlinear IPGs and PDQuest version 7.1 image analysis software were obtained from Bio-Rad (Hercules, CA, USA). Ultrafree-CL