Protein Purification - Purpose

Purpose

Purification may be preparative or analytical. Preparative purifications aim to produce a relatively large quantity of purified proteins for subsequent use. Examples include the preparation of commercial products such as enzymes (e.g. lactase), nutritional proteins (e.g. soy protein isolate), and certain biopharmaceuticals (e.g. insulin). Analytical purification produces a relatively small amount of a protein for a variety of research or analytical purposes, including identification, quantification, and studies of the protein's structure, post-translational modifications and function. Pepsin and urease were the first proteins purified to the point that they could be crystallized.