Magnetic techniques for the isolation and purification of proteins and peptides

Abstract

Isolation and separation of specific molecules is used in almost all areas of biosciences and biotechnology. Diverse procedures can be used to achieve this goal. Recently, increased attention has been paid to the development and application of magnetic separation techniques, which employ small magnetic particles. The purpose of this review paper is to summarize various methodologies, strategies and materials which can be used for the isolation and purification of target proteins and peptides with the help of magnetic field. An extensive list of realised purification procedures documents the efficiency of magnetic separation techniques.

Figure 1

Examples of batch magnetic separators applicable for magnetic separation of proteins and peptides. A: Dynal MPC -S for six microtubes (Dynal, Norway); B: Dynal MPC – 1 for one test tube (Dynal, Norway); C: Dynal MPC – L for six test tubes (Dynal, Norway); D: magnetic separator for six Eppendorf tubes (New England BioLabs, USA); E: MagneSphere Technology Magnetic Separation Stand, two position (Promega, USA); F: MagnaBot Large Volume Magnetic Separation Device (Promega, USA); G: MagneSphere Technology Magnetic Separation Stand, twelve-position (Promega, USA); H: Dynal MPC – 96 S for 96-well microtitre plates (Dynal, Norway); I: MagnaBot 96 Magnetic Separation Device for 96-well microtitre plates (Promega, USA); J: BioMag Solo-Sep Microcentrifuge Tube Separator (Polysciences, USA); K: BioMag Flask Separator (Polysciences, USA); L: MagneSil Magnetic Separation Unit (Promega, USA); M: MCB 1200 processing system for 12 microtubes based on MixSep process (Sigris Research, USA); N: PickPen magnetic tool (Bio-Nobile, Finland). Reproduced with the permission of the above mentioned companies; the photos were taken from their www pages.