Protocol

Purification of Large "Troublesome" Polypeptides by RP-HPLC

This protocol was adapted from "Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography," Chapter 5 in Proteins and Proteomics (ed. Simpson). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA, 2003.

INTRODUCTION

This protocol addresses the group of large polypeptides that have proved to be troublesome to handle because of their low solubility or the presence of secondary structural elements that favor supramolecular self-self assembly. Included in this group are polypeptides with amphipathic -helical or ß-sheet structures with extensive runs of nonpolar (hydrophobic) amino acid side chains or proline-rich sequences. RP-HPLC provides one avenue to purify such troublesome examples provided certain steps and precautions are taken. (Related procedures are equally germane to polypeptides that have been lipidated or subjected to chemical modifications with nonpolar moieties, as well as to some core cyanogen bromide fragments of large proteins.) RP-HPLC methods not only enable concomitant desalting, removal of additives that aid dissolution of the polypeptide or protein, but also permit resolution and maintenance of a reasonably high concentration of the solutes, due to the presence of the (often) low-pH, aquo-organic solvent conditions.