A METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF CONIFER FOLIAGE PROTEIN EXTRACTED USING SODIUM DODECYL-SULFATE AND MERCAPTOETHANOL

Sodium dodecyl sulphate and mercaptoethanol are commonly used for extr action and solubilization of proteins, but these substances interfere with previously reported methods for the quantitation of small amounts of protein. In order to overcome this difficulty, a method has been d eveloped for assaying small quantities of protein by (i) spotting the protein solution on a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane, (ii) stainin g the membrane bound protein with Coomassie Blue, (iii) destaining, an d (iv) determining the optical density of the stained membrane by lase r-based scanning. The determination of proteins in conifer foliage by this method is described.