Rapid ion-exchange chromatography for preparative separation of proteins. Application to porcine and bovine carbonic anhydrases.

A method of rapid ion-exchange chromatography of DEAE-cellulose for preparative purposes is described. Basically, the flow-rate is increased by applying an air pressure on the column. By this technique it is possible to purify gram quantities of protein in 2-4 h with acceptable resolution. In preparations of bovine and porcine carbonic anhydrases the elution times were reduced by a factor of about ten compared to those of conventional methods. The enzymes purified in this way showed a high degree of homogeneity. The method should be generally applicable in protein purification, and especially advantageous in purification of unstable proteins where time-consuming separations often give rise to low yields of active material.