A NOVEL RAPID PROCEDURE FOR THE ISOLATION OF OUTER-MEMBRANE PROTEINS FROM CAMPYLOBACTER-JEJUNI

A new molecular filtration-based method for the recovery and fractiona tion of cell envelope fragments from Campylobacter jejuni has been dev eloped. The process, which uses a novel combination of filtration and selective solubilisation, offers major advantages over currently avail able methods. Inner and outer membranes associated with cell envelope fragments of Campylobacter jejuni, recovered onto a regenerated cellul ose filter under 1 bar negative pressure, can be sequentially treated with Triton X-100 and Triton X-100/EDTA to yield a fraction principall y composed of solubilised outer membrane protein (OMP). The method is rapid, efficient and uses low cost easily available equipment to produ ce electrophoretic patterns and protein yields similar to the standard procedures used by previous workers.