Author
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Malik, Nasir |
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Bradford, Joe |
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Submitted to: International Journal of Food, Agriculture, and the Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 3/25/2005 Publication Date: 4/24/2005 Citation: Malik, N.S., Bradford, J.M. 2005. A simple protein extraction method for proteomic studies on olive leaves. International Journal of Food, Agriculture, and the Environment. 3:246-248. Interpretive Summary: Proteins play a critical role in regulating numerous biological phenomenon, and therefore, interest in proteomic studies have been intense in animal, human, and plant research. Such research is almost lacking for olive trees because the presence of high levels of phenolic compounds makes it very difficult to extract a good preparation of proteins for analyses. Recently, a method based on phenol-SDS was developed for olive leaf proteins. This method is somewhat tedious and involves corrosive chemicals that require special handling and disposal procedures. We have, therefore, developed a simpler method which produces higher yields of proteins and gives more spots on 2-D electrophoresis gel. This procedure should be very useful for many proteomics studies related to olive tree physiology and its response to different environments. Technical Abstract: Researchers have encountered difficulties in extracting proteins from olive leaves because of the high content of interfering compounds in this tissue. Recently, after testing several methods, a phenol-SDA method was devised to extract proteins from olive leaves for proteomic studies. This method is tricky and the use of phenol, a very corrosive agent, requires careful handling. We, therefore, tested the phenol-SDS method along with a slightly modified standard method that gave equal or better results on two dimensional electrophoresis gels. This simpler and more convenient method of protein extraction from olive leaves is described here. |
