A method to quantitate Coomassie blue-stained proteins in cylindrical polyacrylamide gels

A method for the quantitation of Coomassie blue-stained proteins in cylindrical polyacrylamide gels is described. It involves an elution of the dye with an 80% methanol solution in a sealed Pyrex tube at 100 degrees C for 3 h and a measurement of its concentration at 585 nm. Using a 6.5% polyacrylamide gel and bovine serum albumin as a protein standard, the curve of absorbance of the dye solution as a function of the amount of protein was observed to be linear up to 30-40 micrograms of protein and as little as 0.8-1.0 micrograms of protein could be measured. The validity of the method was indicated by the values obtained for the relative proportions of the human erythrocyte membrane proteins. Using this method, the color yields of several proteins varying widely with respect to their size, amino acid composition, and carbohydrate content were determined in a 6.5% polyacrylamide gel. The results showed that they were generally the same except for proteins having a high carbohydrate content which were significantly lower.