Purification of chaperonins

The availability of protein samples of sufficient quality and in sufficient quantity is a driving force in biology and biotechnology. Protein samples that are free of critical contaminants are required for specific assays, La rge amounts of highly homogeneous and reproducible material are needed for crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance studies of protein structure . Protein-based therapeutic factors used in human medicine must not contain any contaminants that might interfere with treatment. The roles played by molecular chaperones in protein folding and in many cellular processes make these proteins very attractive candidates as biochemical reagents, and the class of chaperones called chaperonins is one of the most important candid ates. Methods for successfully purifying chaperonins are needed to advance the field of chaperonin-mediated protein folding. This article outlines the strategies and methods used to obtain pure chaperonin samples from differe nt biological sources. The objective is to help new researchers obtain bett er quality samples of chaperonins from many new organisms. (C) 1999 Publish ed by Elsevier Science B.V.