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Updated: Jun 30, 2026

Rapid Assessment of Membrane Protein Quality by Fluorescent Size Exclusion Chromatography
Published on: January 6, 2023
A gas chromatographic method for quantification of detergents frequently used in membrane protein structural studies
Chaowei Shi1, Wei Shao, Ying Xiong
1National Laboratory for Physical Science at Microscale, School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
A novel and reliable gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) method that can separate and quantify detergents frequently used in membrane protein structural studies has been developed. Different detergents were identified through FID peaks with different retention times. A quadratic regression curve was found to fit the integrated FID peak area against different detergent concentrations. Detergents can be quantified as low as the nanogram level: lauryl-dimethylamine-N-oxide (LDAO), 5 ng; dodecyl maltoside (DDM), 10 ng; and dodecyl phosphocholine (DPC), 50 ng. This method can be applied directly to measure detergent concentration and molar ratio of membrane protein to detergents during membrane protein extraction, purification, concentration, and crystallization.

