Development of non-denaturing off-gel isoelectric focusing for the separation of uranium-protein complexes in fish.

ABSTRACT

An off-gel non-denaturing isoelectric focusing (IEF) method was developed to separate uranium-biomolecule complexes from biological samples as a first step in a multidimensional metalloproteomic approach. Analysis of a synthetic uranium-bovine serum albumin complex demonstrated the focusing ability of the liquid-phase IEF method and the preservation of most of the uranium-protein interactions. The developed method was applied to gill cytosol prepared from zebrafish (Danio rerio) exposed to depleted uranium. The results were compared in terms of resolution, recovery, and protein identities with those obtained by in-gel IEF using an immobilized pH gradient gel strip.