Denaturing Lysis of Cells for Immunoprecipitation

The only way to solubilize many antigens for immunoprecipitation is by denaturation. This cell lysis protocol is ideally suited for this purpose to release proteins from complex structures or reveal antibody epitopes hidden within native proteins. Short linear epitopes may not be accessible to antibodies within the native tertiary and quaternary protein structures, but they become exposed upon the unraveling of proteins, exposing their secondary structure. Antibodies otherwise not suitable for the immunoprecipitation of proteins prepared under nondenaturing conditions are now able to bind these antigens of interest in cell lysates prepared under denaturing conditions. These antibodies may also work well for immunoblotting purposes when the protein target is completely denatured. Harvested cells in this protocol are washed in tris-buffered saline (TBS) before lysis in 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-containing Lysis buffer for 10 min at 100°C. The resulting sample is diluted 20-fold in TBS to reduce the SDS concentration to ≤0.1% before the addition of an antibody for immunoprecipitation. Addition of 2% bovine serum albumin (BSA) or 0.1% Nonidet P-40 to the TBS before an immunoprecipitation, respectively, ensures either removal of SDS from the target protein or retaining denatured proteins in solution.