• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• 제6권6호
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• pp.395-401
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• 2001

Crystallins are a family of water-soluble proteins that constitute up to 90% of the wa-ter-soluble proteins in mammalian eye lenses, We present in this paper an alternative purification method for these proteins using polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two-phase extraction. Un-der the appropriate conditions, we were able to recover the γ-crystallin fraction essentially free of the remaining proteins. High concentrations of salt at a neutral pH maximize the recovery of γ-crystallins in the top phase and minimize the contamination by the other proteins present in the lenses. The proposed protocol decreases the separation time by about 50%. The complex partition behavior observed for these proteins reflects a delicate balance between protein/phase-forming species(various polymers and salts) and protein interactions. This is evidenced, in part, by the role played by the largest proteins in this group as a "pseudo"phase-forming species.