INSTRUMENTATION FOR AUTOMATED-DETERMINATION OF PROTEIN STABILITY

A new instrument system has been developed that automatically carries out solvent and thermal denaturations of proteins using fluorescence a s a probe of structure. This instrument also automatically performs pH titrations and can make kinetic measurements on the time scale of sec onds. The design philosophy and implementation are described. The prot otype instrument was subjected to extensive testing. The instrument ca n very reproducibly and accurately collect data that allow the calcula tion of the thermodynamics of protein denaturation. This data collecti on can proceed without human intervention after acquisition start unti l the data are saved. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.