Mobility shift detection of phosphorylation on large proteins using a Phos-tag SDS-PAGE gel strengthened with agarose.

We describe a novel technique of phosphate-affinity SDS-PAGE using Phos-tag to analyze large phosphoproteins with molecular masses of more than 200 kDa. The protein phosphoisotypes were clearly separated as up-shifted migration bands in a 3% w/v polyacrylamide gel containing 20 microM Phos-tag and 0.5% w/v agarose. In subsequent immunoblotting, the procedure permitted the determination of the phosphoisotypes of high-molecular-mass proteins, such as mTOR (289 kDa), ATM kinase (350 kDa), and 53BP1 (213 kDa).