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Here, we present a detailed protocol for a modified zymographic technique in which fluorescent peptides are used as the degradable substrate in place of native proteins. Electrophoresis of biological samples in fluorescent peptide zymograms enables detection of a wider range of proteases than previous zymographic techniques.
The purpose of this method is to measure the proteolytic activity of complex biological samples. The samples are separated by molecular weight using electrophoresis through a resolving gel embedded with a degradable substrate. This method differs from traditional gel zymography in that a quenched fluorogenic peptide is covalently incorporated into the resolving gel instead of full length proteins, such as gelatin or casein. Use of the fluorogenic peptides enables direct detection of proteolytic activity without additional staining steps. Enzymes within the biological samples cleave the quenched fluorogenic peptide, resulting in an increase in fluorescence. The fluorescent signal in the gels is then imaged with a standard fluorescent gel scanner and quantified using densitometry. The use of peptides as the degradable substrate greatly expands the possible proteases detectable with zymographic techniques.
Gel zymography is a biological technique used to measure proteolytic activity within biological samples, such as body fluids or cell culture media1,2,3. The samples are separated by their molecular weights with electrophoresis through a polyacrylamide gel embedded with a degradable substrate. Common degradable substrates include gelatin, casein, collagen and elastin, which have been used to measure the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) -1, -2, -3, -7, -8, -9, and -11, in addition to a variety of cathepsins1,2
1. Preparation of the Resolving Gel Layer
Using the method described here, two fluorescent protease-degradable peptides were incorporated into polyacrylamide gels: GGPQG↓IWGQK(PEG)2C (abbreviated as QGIW throughout the text and figures) and GPLA↓CpMeOBzlWARK(PEG)2C (abbreviated as LACW throughout the text and figures). ↓ indicates the site of cleavage. QGIW is a collagen-I derived sequence designed to detect cellular collagenases14. LACW is a sequence that.......
Current zymographic techniques rely on the incorporation of native substrates into polyacrylamide gels for the detection of proteolysis. While these techniques have garnered widespread use, they are still limited in the number of proteases they can detect. Here, a protocol was described in which fluorescent, protease-degradable peptides are incorporated into the polyacrylamide resolving gel. Covalent coupling using an azido-PEG3-maleimide linker molecule enables the separation and detection of a wider variety of protease.......
Funding provided by The Ohio State University College of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Department, and the Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.
....Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
1.5 mm Empty Gel Cassettes | ThermoFisher Scientific | NC2015 | |
1.5 mm, 10 well Empty Gel Cassette Combs | ThermoFisher Scientific | NC3510 | |
1x Phosphate Buffered Saline | Fisher Scientific | 10-010-049 | |
20% SDS Solution | Ambion | AM9820 | |
3x Zymography Sample Buffer | Bio-Rad | 1610764 | |
40% (w/v) Acrylamide/Bis (19:1) | Ambion | AM9022 | |
6 Well Tissue Culture Plates | ThermoFisher Scientific | 087721B | |
Amicon Ultra-2 Centrifugal Filter Unit (10 kDa MWCO) | Sigma-Aldrich | UFC201024 | |
Ammounium Persulfate | Sigma-Aldrich | A3678 | |
Azido-PEG3-Maleimide Kit | Click Chemistry Tools | AZ107 | |
Calcium Chloride | ThermoFisher Scientific | BP510100 | |
Dimethyl Sulfoxide | Fisher Scientific | BP231 | |
Isopropanol | Fisher Scientific | A416P | |
Micro BCA Protein Assay Kit | ThermoFisher Scientific | 23235 | |
N N N' N'-Tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) | Sigma-Aldrich | T9281 | |
PowerPac Basic Power Supply | Bio-Rad | 1645050 | |
Precision Plus Protein Dual Color Standard | Bio-Rad | 161-0374 | |
PrecisionGlide Hypodermic Needles | Fisher Scientific | 14-826 | |
Round Bottom Flask (100 mL) | Fisher Scientific | 50-873-144 | |
Septum Rubber Stopper | Fisher Scientific | 50-872-546 | |
Sterile Slip Tip Syringe (1 mL) | Fisher Scientific | 14-823-434 | |
Triton X-100 | Sigma-Aldrich | X100 | |
Trizma hydrochlroide | Sigma-Aldrich | T5941 | |
Typhoon 9410 Molecular Imager | GE Amersham | 8149-30-9410 | |
Zinc Chloride | Sigma-Aldrich | 208086 |
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