Proteolysis - Laboratory Applications

Laboratory Applications

Proteolysis is also used in research and diagnostic applications:

• Cleavage of fusion protein so that the fusion partner and protein tag used in protein expression and purification may be removed. The proteases used have high degree of specificity, such as thrombin, enterokinase, and TEV protease, so that only the targeted sequence may be cleaved.
• Proteinase K, broad spectrum proteinase stable in urea and SDS, is often used in the preparation of nucleic acids to remove unwanted nuclease contaminants.
• In-gel digestion of proteins after separation by gel electrophoresis for the identification by mass spectrometry.
• Digestion of proteins in solution for proteome analysis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).
• Analysis of the stability of folded domain under a wide range of conditions.