Protein spot recognition on the non-denaturing and denaturing two-dimensional electrophoresis patterns using in situ immunosubtraction via Protein A agarose and antibodies.

Specific proteins in small amounts of human plasma were subtracted from patterns of non-denaturing two-dimensional electrophoresis (non-denaturing 2-DE) by layering a 7 microl aliquot of Protein A agarose-antibody complex on the top of an isoelectric focusing (IEF) gel before the loading of a plasma sample. The Protein A agarose suspension was recovered after non-denaturing IEF and was mixed with 8 M urea-5% 2-mercaptoethanol-1% NP-40 to extract the antibody and the specific plasma protein from Protein A agarose. The extract was then subjected to denaturing two-dimensional electrophoresis (denaturing 2-DE) and the location of the specific polypeptide was determined. The technique can be applied to the extraction and analysis of proteins in small amounts of samples.