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Use of Two Dimensional Semi-denaturing Detergent Agarose Gel Electrophoresis to Confirm Size Heterogeneity of Amyloid or Amyloid-like Fibers
Published on: April 26, 2018
Estimation of amyloid aggregate sizes with semi-denaturing detergent agarose gel electrophoresis and its limitations
Polina B Drozdova1,2, Yury A Barbitoff1, Mikhail V Belousov1,3
1Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Abstract:
Semi-denaturing detergent agarose gel electrophoresis (SDD-AGE) was proposed by Vitaly V. Kushnirov in the Michael D. Ter-Avanesyan's laboratory as a method to compare sizes of amyloid aggregates. Currently, this method is widely used for amyloid investigation, but mostly as a qualitative approach. In this work, we assessed the possibilities and limitations of the quantitative analysis of amyloid aggregate size distribution using SDD-AGE results. For this purpose, we used aggregates of two well-characterized yeast amyloid-forming proteins, Sup35 and Rnq1, and developed a protocol to standardize image analysis and process the result. A detailed investigation of factors that may affect the results of SDD-AGE revealed that both the cell lysis method and electrophoresis conditions can substantially affect the estimation of aggregate size. Despite this, quantitative analysis of SDD-AGE results is possible when one needs to estimate and compare the size of aggregates on the same gel, or even in different experiments, if the experimental conditions are tightly controlled and additional standards are used.
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