Application of high-performance liquid chromatographic techniques to the separation of ribosomal proteins of different organisms.

The ribosomal proteins from Escherichia coli, Bacillus stearothermophilus and Methanococcus vannielii were separated by size-exclusion, ion-exchange and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), employing new column materials, different gradient systems, and preparative columns, respectively. The purity of the isolated proteins was analysed by one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and by direct micro-sequencing. The separation of ribosomal proteins could be improved by employing propanol gradients in combination with Vydac reversed-phase columns. From the E. coli ribosome, fifteen S and twenty-three L proteins were isolated in sequencer purity by this method. In addition, ion-exchange HPLC was proven to be useful for isolating ribosomal proteins under native conditions: six S proteins and sixteen L proteins from E. coli could be purified. Some of these proteins were not isolated by the reversed-phase procedures, e.g. proteins L9, L14 and L21.