Intrinsic protein fluorescence interferes with detection of tear glycoproteins in SDS-polyacrylamide gels using extrinsic fluorescent dyes

Zhenjun Zhao*, Yulina Aliwarga, Mark D P Willcox

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Intrinsic protein fluorescence may interfere with the visualization of proteins after SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis. In an attempt to analyze tear glycoproteins in gels, we ran tear samples and stained the proteins with a glycoprotein-specific fluorescent dye. The fluorescence detected was not limited to glycoproteins. There was strong intrinsic fluorescence of proteins normally found in tears after soaking the gels in 40% methanol plus 1-10% acetic acid and, to a lesser extent, in methanol or acetic acid alone. Nanograms of proteins gave visible native fluorescence and interfere with extrinsic fluorescent dye detection. Poly-L-lysine, which does not contain intrinsically fluorescent amino acids, did not fluoresce.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)331-335
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Biomolecular Techniques
Volume18
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2007
Externally publishedYes

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