How do I minimizing protein degradation in sample preparation for electrophoresis?
A. During sample preparation (e.g., cell fractionation) endogenous proteases are released which may degrade sample proteins. To prevent artifacts caused by proteolysis, use protease inhibitors during sample preparation and protein isolation. For SDS-PAGE, deactivation of endogenous proteases may require mixing the sample with SDS and heating to 70 C – 100 C for 3 minutes. This cannot be done for native electrophoresis samples. To minimize proteolysis the run should be performed at 4 C. Click here for more information on products for sample preparation.
