Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Nitrogen Cavitation and Differential Centrifugation Allows for Monitoring the Distribution of Peripheral Membrane Proteins in Cultured Cells
Published on: August 18, 2017
Citric acid extracts a specific set of proteins from isolated cell nuclei
U Rosenberger1, M Shakibaei, C Weise
1Arbeitsgruppe Neurochemie, Institut fur Biochemie, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
The treatment of isolated cell nuclei with citric acid was described as a method for separating inner and outer nuclear membrane. Using cell nuclei from bovine cerebral cortex, we can show that citric acid does not cause a separation of the two nuclear membranes, but extracts a specific set of proteins from the nuclei. The extraction of proteins is not just an effect of damaging the nuclear membrane or destructing the cytoskeleton, but rather a specific effect of citric acid treatment. One of the extracted proteins, chosen as a marker for the putative outer nuclear membrane fraction, has an apparent molecular weight of 145 kDa and is located in the nucleoplasm as shown by immunofluorescence microscopy. By sequencing tryptic peptides it was identified as RNA helicase A, an abundant nuclear protein assumed to participate in the processing of mRNA.
Related Concept Videos
DNA Isolation
DNA Isolation
Overview Of Cell Separation And Isolation
Subcellular Fractionation
Differential Centrifugation
Differential centrifugation is...

