The method is that by Edelhoch, mentioned a couple of times already in this discussion. It's also described in the paper by Pace et al., the same paper that the formula in ProtParam is from (ProtParam does not use the values determined by Gill & von Hippel). Last time I looked into this, the consensus was that the Edelhoch method is the most accurate method for protein concentration determination; more accurate than dry-weighing plus N-terminal sequencing, etc.
MM On Jun 16, 2011, at 7:51 PM, aaleshin wrote: Sorry for misprint, I meant evaporating water from a protein solution... On Jun 16, 2011, at 4:45 PM, aaleshin wrote: Mischa, You intrigued me. What is the experimental technique for the Extinction Coefficient measurement (which requires knowledge of protein concentration)? Let me guess, Bradford? Protein evaporation and weighing? Alex On Jun 16, 2011, at 4:22 PM, Machius, Mischa Christian wrote: With respect to the Edelhoch method and the ProtParam server, I would strongly recommend determining extinction coefficients experimentally and not rely on the ProtParam values. The reason is that the underlying extinction coefficients in the formula used by ProtParam and referenced there are statistical averages. They may or may not be valid for a given protein. I have seen differences of more than 20% between the "theoretical" and "experimental" extinction coefficients, particularly for proteins with few Trp and Tyr residues. When relying on relative concentrations, this inaccuracy is not detrimental, but when absolute concentrations are needed (CD, AUC, ITC, any binding experiment, etc.), such a difference would be considered huge. Determining an extinction coefficient experimentally takes but a few minutes. Cheers! MM On Jun 16, 2011, at 6:22 PM, Petr Leiman wrote: Totally support the statements below. We have had several proteins with A280 absorbance of 0.1 or less (at 1 mg/ml). You _have_ to use Bradford in the Nanodrop or whatnot to measure the concentration. Before purchasing the Nanodrop we used a Hellma TrayCell and a "normal" UV/Vis instrument. Similar to the Nanodrop, the sample volume in TrayCell is 2-3 ul. Traycell works well at a fraction of the Nanodrop cost, but Nanodrop is a lot more convenient to use for high concentration quick measurements (especially if you need to measure several things in succession), so you get what you pay for. Petr P.S. Expasy's Protparam tool has been around for ages (10-12+ years?). That plus the Nanodrop are two essential and synergetic tools of a protein chemist/crystallographer. On Jun 16, 2011, at 10:31 PM, Edward A. Berry wrote: Bradford is an assay, Nanodrop is a spectrophotometer. Both the A280 and Bradford methods are strongly dependent on amino acid composition, so unless you correct A280 for that as mentioned by Filip, either one is semiquantitative. Occasionally you come across a protein with no tryptophan which will have a much lower extinction coefficient. Try making a 1 g/l solution of gelatin (collagen?) and see what its A280 is! I noticed recently the "protparam" tool at http://ca.expasy.org/cgi-bin/protparam estimates the extinction coefficient given a sequence. David Briggs wrote: ~~~ I wouldn't touch Bradford with a barge-pole. I've found it to be wildly inaccurate for certain proteins I've handled, where as the OD280 measurements have been fine. One wonders what does "fine" mean, like same as with Biuret or Kjeldahl nitrogen, or solution made up by weight? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mischa Machius, PhD Director, Center for Structural Biology Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology Member, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center University of North Carolina 4079 Genetic Medicine CB#7365 120 Mason Farm Road Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7365, U.S.A. tel: +1-919-843-4485 fax: +1-919-966-5640 email: mach...@unc.edu<mailto:mach...@med.unc.edu> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mischa Machius, PhD Director, Center for Structural Biology Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology Member, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center University of North Carolina 4079 Genetic Medicine CB#7365 120 Mason Farm Road Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7365, U.S.A. tel: +1-919-843-4485 fax: +1-919-966-5640 email: mach...@unc.edu<mailto:mach...@med.unc.edu>
