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Chemical Physical and Biochemical Concepts in Isolation and Purification of Proteins
Published in Juan A. Asenjo, Separation Processes in Biotechnology, 2020
Milton T. W. Hearn, Birger Anspach
Central to these advances are the well-recognized requirements to develop new stratagems for the purification of a specific peptide or protein from complex mixtures. The attainment of very high purities for peptides or proteins can be achieved only by the application of several high-resolution separation techniques. To purify a bio-polymer to near-homogeneity and satisfy the stringent limits of contaminant detection, sophisticated analytical and preparative separation techniques must be integrated by the biochemist, protein chemist, and biochemical engineer. For these reasons it is not surprising that extensive multidisciplinary and multifaceted research is currently under way to refine and extend existing chromatographic and electro-phoretic procedures to allow improved resolution and recovery.
Recombinant DNA Technology
Published in Firdos Alam Khan, Biotechnology Fundamentals, 2020
After learning the structure and function of genes and proteins, the next question that comes to mind is if it is possible to edit or manipulate genes? If answer is yes, then how can we edit or manipulate genes to make customized proteins? The use of technology to manipulate genes is called genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technology (rDNA technology). rDNA technology is a field of molecular biology in which scientists manipulate DNA to form new synthetic molecules, called chimeras. The practice of cutting, pasting, and copying DNA is based on Arthur Kornberg’s successful replication of viral DNA in a breakthrough that served as a proof-of-concept for cloning. This was followed by the Swiss biochemist Werner Arber’s discovery of restriction enzymes in bacteria that degrade foreign viral DNA molecules while sparing their own DNA. Arber effectively showed how to “cut” DNA molecules. Soon to follow was the understanding that ligase could be used to “glue” them together. These two achievements were the main reasons for the launching of rDNA technology research. The most common recombinant process involves combining the DNA of two different organisms. The rDNA technique was first proposed by Peter Lobban, a graduate student with A. Dale Kaiser at Stanford University, Department of Biochemistry. The technique was then realized by Lobban and his group in 1972–1974. rDNA technology was made possible by the discovery, isolation, and application of restriction endonucleases by Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, and Hamilton Smith, for which they received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Structures
Published in Thomas M. Nordlund, Peter M. Hoffmann, Quantitative Understanding of Biosystems, 2019
Thomas M. Nordlund, Peter M. Hoffmann
Are these bound ions simply stumbled upon in the structure by crystallographers while they are reconstructing the protein or DNA electron density map? Usually not. Crystallographers select well-characterized biomolecules to measure, ones that have been purified by biochemists and whose activity is known. It is rare that a biochemist will pass a protein to a crystallographer without knowing all the small molecules and ions essential to its structure or action. The biochemist may not initially understand how an enzyme works, but you can rely on them to check the dependence of enzyme activity on pH, temperature, five or six standard ions, and a variety of other molecules—the usual suspects. The important ions will then be included in the soup in which the crystallographer forms the crystal.
A different kind of Nierenstein reaction. The Chemical Society’s mistreatment of Maximilian Nierenstein
Published in Annals of Science, 2021
William H. Brock, David E. Lewis
After leaving Perkin’s laboratory, Nierenstein obtained an International Fellowship to work with the biochemist Benjamin Moore (1867–1922) at the University of Liverpool in the Liverpool Tropical Medicine Institute, where he also joined Ronald Ross in immunology research using arsenical treatments.28 It was while working in Liverpool that, in October 1909, he became a naturalized British citizen.29 In the interim, on the basis of a series of publications in German, he had been awarded a DSc from the University of Geneva. Much of his early work appeared in Collegium, the journal of the International Society of Leather Trades (f. 1897), of which he was a member.