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    Chloroform-methanol protein precipitation from microalgae and Pierce BCA assay

    Ying-Yu Hu, Christopher Lord, Zoe V Finkel

    Published: 2022-12-12 DOI: 10.17504/protocols.io.yxmvm2e25g3p/v1
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    Abstract

    Chlorophyll, phospholipids, sucrose, glycerol and some detergent in crude protein extracted from microalgae can interfere the Pierce BCA protein assay. In order to remove these interference, bead miller extracted protein is precipitated by chloroform-methanol prior to BCA assay. The resulting precipitation is dissolved into Sarcosine-Tris solution. Low limit of detection is about 5 ug/mL.

    Steps

    Reagent preparation

    1.

    Tris buffer 5 (pH 8.0)

    Add 500µL 1``8.0 Tris into 100 mL MilliQ water

    2.

    20% Sarcosine

    Dilute 2 part 30% N-lauroylsarcosine sodium salt with 1 part 5 (pH 8.0) Tris buffer

    Protein precipitation

    3.

    Thaw protein extract

    4.

    Turn on refrigerate centrifuge

    Equipment

    ValueLabel
    CENTRIFUGE 5430 RNAME
    EppendorfBRAND
    MP2231000510SKU
    5.

    Turn on incubator/shaker, preheat to 37°C

    Equipment

    ValueLabel
    SHAKING INCUBATORNAME
    71LTYPE
    Corning® LSE™BRAND
    6753SKU
    6.

    Prepare ice-bath

    7.

    Well mix the extract and then transfer 100µL of extract to 2 mL microtube (Abdos tubes give better precipitation results), in replicate.

    Equipment

    ValueLabel
    Micro Centrifuge TubesNAME
    AbdosBRAND
    P10203SKU

    Note
    If extract has debris, spin down debris by 13300rpm,Room temperature,0h 5m 0s and transfer only clear supernatant. Debris can cause overestimation of protein content.

    8.

    In the fume hood, add 400µL methanol

    9.

    Gently vortex for 0h 0m 30s by using a tube insert

    Equipment

    ValueLabel
    VWR ANALOG VORTEX MIXERNAME
    VWRBRAND
    10153-838SKU
    With tube insertSPECIFICATIONS
    10.

    In the fume hood, add 100µL chloroform

    11.

    Gently vortex for 0h 0m 30s by using a tube insert

    12.

    In the fume hood, add 300µL MilliQ

    13.

    Gently vortex for 0h 0m 30s by using a tube insert

    14.

    Incubate On ice for 0h 30m 0s

    15.

    20000rcf,4°C

    16.

    In the fume hood, remove upper phase by leaving about 250µL liquid

    Note
    Do not disturb the interphase

    17.

    In the fume hood, add 300µL methanol

    18.

    Gently mix the liquid until bottom layer disappear and the solution is homogenous.

    Note
    The formation of small pellet might be observed, but might be invisible due to low protein mass.

    19.

    20000rcf,4°C

    20.

    In the fume hood, remove all solvent.

    Note
    Watch the pipet closely. Do not remove pellets with the solvent.

    21.

    If pellet tends to be aspired with solvent, add another 300µL methanol, gently vortex, and 20000rcf,4°C

    22.

    In the fume hood, remove most solvent by using 1000 uL pipet tip, and then remove the rest by using 100 uL pipet tip. Do not remove pellet with solvent.

    23.

    Dry pellet in vacuum desiccator for at least 0h 30m 0s at Room temperature

    Note
    Any methanol and chloroform residue can affect the re-dissolving of pellet in BCA assay.However, do not dry protein pellet for too long, otherwise it might be difficult to re-dissolve.

    BCA assay

    24.

    Add 5µL 20% sarcosine and 95µL 5 (pH 8.0) Tris buffer to dry protein pellet, incubate at 37°C for 15 to 30 min.

    25.

    Use tube insert, vortex all tubes for 15 to 30 min until pellet is completely re-dissolved.

    26.

    BSA standard solutions

    ABCDE
    SD159500
    SD22547050.02
    SD325463120.048
    SD425450250.1
    SD525425500.2
    SD6253751000.4
    SD7252752000.8
    SD8252252501
    27.

    Vortex and then use reverse pipetting: transfer 100µL standard solutions into the corresponding tubes, except for SD1 (it has already been 100 uL).

    28.

    Use the following formula to determine the total volume of working reagent (WR) required. Consider leaving several mL of extra volume:

    (# standards + # samples) X (800µL) = total volume WR required

    29.

    Prepare WR by mixing 50 parts of BCA reagent A with 1 part of BCA Reagent B in a 50 mL falcon tube

    30.

    Use one tip and reverse pipetting: Add 800µL WR into each tube, make sure that the tip doesn't have contact with the solution, so that samples are not cross-contaminated.

    Note
    Since BCA assay is sensitive to duration, although reagent is aqueous, it is more efficient to use reverse pipetting and quickly dispense reagent into all tubes, therefore the duration difference amongst standards and samples can be minimized.

    31.

    Vortex each tube, shake and incubate at 37°C for 0h 30m 0s

    32.

    Remove samples from the incubator.

    33.

    Load samples into microplate in duplicate:

    Note
    Reverse pipetting: aspire 200µL sample from the middle of solutionTip gently touches the side of the well, avoid bending. Dispense 200 uL into the microplateDispose the tipUse a new tip, reverse pipet another 200µL as replicateTip gently touches the side of the well, avoid bending. Dispense 200 uL into the microplate

    Equipment

    ValueLabel
    96-Well MicroplatesNAME
    Polystyrene, Clear,TYPE
    Greiner Bio-OneBRAND
    82050-760SKU
    34.

    Shake for 5 s at 600 rpm in a continuous and high force modeRead endpoint 562 nm with a measurement time 100 ms Equipment

    ValueLabel
    Varioskan LUX Multimode Microplate ReaderNAME
    Thermo FisherBRAND
    VL0L00D0SKU

    Calculation

    35.

    Subtract the average 562 nm absorbance measurement of the blank standard replicates from the 562 nm measurements of all other individual standard .

    36.

    Subtract the average 562 nm absorbance measurement of the blank sample (filter) replicates from the 562 nm measurements of all other individual sample .

    37.

    Prepare a standard curve by plotting the average Blank-corrected 562 nm measurement for each BSA standard versus its concentration in mg/ml. The standard curve is quadratic.

    38.

    For the calculation convenience, plot BSA concentration (Conc) versus Corrected absorbance (Abs) to obtain a standard curve as following:

    Conc_mg/mL = a X Abs^2 + b X Abs + c

    Use the corrected measured absorbance of samples (Abs) to calculate the total protein concentration (Conc_mg/mL) from each sample.

    39.

    Protein_mg/filter = Conc_mg/mL X PEB_mL

    Where PEB is the volume of protein extraction buffer used to extract protein from microalgae sample.

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