Subcellular fractionation and protein enrichment are important methods in the rapidly growing field of proteomics. Isolation of subcellular fractions and concentration of proteins in low abundance allow for more efficient identification and study of proteins of interest. Examples are the isolation of integral membrane proteins and nuclear proteins.

Order Free Literature...
Cell Lysis Handbook

Membrane Protein Extraction

Membrane proteins comprise approximately 30% of the eukaryotic proteome and are a key target in drug discovery research. However, they are difficult to isolate because of their hydrophobicity, basic nature, and large size.

Triton* X-114 is a unique detergent that is commonly used to not only solubilize membrane proteins but also separate them from hydrophilic proteins via phase partitioning at a physiological temperature. Solutions of Triton X-114 are homogeneous at 0°C (form a clear micellar solution) but separate into aqueous and detergent phases above 20°C (the cloud point) as micellar aggregates form and the solution turns turbid. With increased temperature, phase separation proceeds until two clear phases are formed where proteins partition according to their hydrophilic and hydrophobic features. Membrane proteins are enriched in the hydrophobic fraction.

Mem-PER Eukaryotic Membrane Protein Extraction Kit uses this solubilization and partitioning method to extract membrane proteins for analysis. The protocol involves the gentle lysis of mammalian cells using a mild, proprietary detergent followed by membrane protein extraction with Triton X-114. The method is effective for membrane proteins having 1 to 3 membrane-spanning domains, yielding protein extracts suitable for analysis by Western blotting and other techniques.

Learn more...
Detergents for Cell Lysis

View Products...
Mem-PER Eukaryotic Membrane Protein Extraction Kit

Nuclear Protein Extraction

The preparation of good nuclear protein extracts is central to the success of many gene regulation studies. Nuclear extracts are used instead of whole cell lysates for several reasons. First, many experiments in the area of gene regulation are adversely affected by cellular components present in whole cell lysates. Second, the concentration of the nuclear protein of interest is diluted by the vast array of cytoplasmic proteins present in whole cell extracts. Finally, whole cell lysates are complicated by the presence of genomic DNA and mRNA. A variety of methods exist to isolate nuclei and prepare nuclear protein extracts. However, most of these are lengthy processes requiring mechanical homogenization, freeze/thaw cycles, extensive centrifugation or dialysis steps that may compromise the integrity of many fragile nuclear proteins.

NE-PER Nuclear and Cytoplasmic Extraction Reagent Kit enables stepwise lysis of cells that generates both functional cytoplasmic and nuclear protein fractions in less than two hours. Cultured mammalian cells or tissues are processed by first disrupting the outer cell membrane to obtain the cytoplasmic contents and then extracting proteins from the nuclei. Cross-contamination between the two fractions is minimal (<10%). With this stepwise fractionation procedure, concentrated nuclear extracts are obtained and gene regulation experiments are not compromised, as is commonly seen when whole cell lysates are analyzed. Prepared extracts are compatible with many downstream applications, including electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) with nuclear extracts, reporter assays with cytosolic extracts, Western blots, enzyme assays and the Pierce BCA Protein Assay.

View Products...
NE-PER Nuclear and Cytoplasmic Protein Extraction Kit

Learn more...
Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays
(EMSA or Gel-Shift Assays)

Subcellular Fractionation

The Thermo Scientific Subcellular Protein Fractionation Kit enables stepwise separation and extraction of cytoplasmic, membrane, nuclear soluble, chromatin-bound and cytoskeletal proteins from mammalian cultured cells or tissue. Extracts obtained with the Subcellular Protein Fractionation Kit are compatible with a variety of downstream applications including Western blotting, protein assays, electrophoretic mobility shift assays and reporter-gene and enzyme-activity assays.

Fractionation of subcellular proteins enables protein localization assessment and protein enrichment from specific cellular compartments. The Thermo Scientific Subcellular Protein Fractionation Kit includes a combination of reagents for stepwise lysis of cells into functional cytoplasmic, membrane, nuclear soluble, chromatin-bound and cytoskeletal protein fractions in less than 3 hours. Extracts from each subcellular compartment generally have less than 15% contamination between fractions, which is sufficient purity for most experiments studying protein localization and redistribution.

View Products...
Subcellular Protein Fractionation Kit

Nucleus and Organelle Enrichment

Subcellular fractionation simplifies complex protein mixtures, thereby facilitating proteomic analysis. Isolation of intact organelles enables analysis at either whole organelle or protein-fractional levels. Isolation of organelles is accomplished by cell membrane lysis and density gradient centrifugation to separate organelles from contaminating cellular structures. Intact nuclei and organelles have distinctive sizes in mammalian cells, enabling them to be separated by this method.

We have developed three organelle enrichment kits for lysosomes, peroxisomes and nuclei that enable enrichment of intact organelles from cells and tissue. The isolated organelles may be used for a number of downstream applications, including 2D/MS, electron microscopy, disease profiling, gene expression, signal transduction and interaction or localization studies.

View Products...
Nuclei Enrichment Kit
Lysosome Enrichment Kit
Peroxisome Enrichment Kit

Mitochondria Isolation

Isolation of intact mitochondria is typically a laborious process requiring single-sample processing with Dounce homogenization. Density gradient centrifugation approaches are also effective, but are generally practical for large-scale needs only. When the goal is small-scale enrichment of mitochondria and/or extraction of mitochondrial proteins, a reagent-based microcentrifuge method is desirable.

The Mitochondria Isolation Kit uses a non-mechanical, reagent-based method that allows multiple samples (six) to be processed concurrently. Cultured mammalian cell pellets are gently lysed using a proprietary formulation that results in maximum yield of mitochondria with minimal damage to integrity. Guidelines are given for optimizing purity vs. yield parameters. Also included are instructions for a Dounce homogenization procedure, which results in two-fold more mitochondria recovery compared to the reagent-based method. Both methods use differential centrifugation to separate the mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions with a bench-top microcentrifuge and are completed in approximately 40 minutes (post-cell harvest). Once isolated, the mitochondria can be used in downstream applications such as apoptosis, signal transduction and metabolic studies, as well as to facilitate mitochondrial proteomics efforts.

View Products...
Mitochondria Isolation Kit
for Cultured Cells
Mitochondria Isolation Kit
for Tissue