Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography of Escherichia coli ribosomal proteins. Characteristics of the separation of a complex protein mixture.

We have previously reported the application of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) to the separation of Escherichia coli ribosomal proteins (A. R. Kerlavage, L. Kahan and B. S. Cooperman, Anal. Biochem., 123 (1982) 342-348; A. R. Kerlavage, T. Hasan and B. S. Cooperman, J. Biol. Chem., in press). In the present studies RP-HPLC is shown to yield much greater resolution of these proteins than does size-exclusion HPLC. In addition, we report on various aspects of RP-HPLC of ribosomal proteins including column capacity, resolution, reproducibility, recovery, separation of irreversibly denatured protein, and analysis of affinity-labeled ribosomal protein. The capacity of analytical columns was found to range from several micrograms to several milligrams with minimal loss in resolution and highly reproducible retention values. Recovery varied from protein to protein and ranged from 27% to 91%, with an average total protein recovery of 70%. The partitioning of several proteins between two peaks was shown to be due to irreversible denaturation of a small fraction. Finally, the utility of RP-HPLC in the study of the ribosome was demonstrated by analyses of [3H]puromycin-labeled ribosomal proteins, and the demonstration that labeling slightly alters protein elution.