Biomaterial Database

Interference of the detergent Tween 80 in protein assays. 1992

F J Stutzenberger

Department of Microbiology, Clemson University, South Carolina 29634.

The nonionic detergent Tween 80, which has been widely used to stimulate protein secretion in bacterial and fungal systems, caused interferences in three protein determination methods. The OD595 developed in the Coomassie blue dye-binding assay with a variety of purified proteins in the presence of Tween 80 was 1.6 to 3.4 times greater than that observed without detergent. These differences could not be attributed totally to the rapid color development in the assay with Tween 80 alone. Crude concentrated extracellular bacterial proteins shaken overnight with Tween 80 yielded an altered fractionation pattern on size exclusion chromatography and 10-fold increased color with an absorption spectrum in the dye-binding assay different from that of bacterial proteins shaken without detergent. In the bicinchoninic acid method, the detergent caused a 2- to 3-fold increase in OD562 due largely to contaminating peroxides which could be removed by treatment with catalase. In the Folin phenol method, the detergent caused a slight precipitate, but residual interference was not detectable in filtered assay mixtures.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007202	Indicators and Reagents	Substances used for the detection, identification, analysis, etc. of chemical, biological, or pathologic processes or conditions. Indicators are substances that change in physical appearance, e.g., color, at or approaching the endpoint of a chemical titration, e.g., on the passage between acidity and alkalinity. Reagents are substances used for the detection or determination of another substance by chemical or microscopical means, especially analysis. Types of reagents are precipitants, solvents, oxidizers, reducers, fluxes, and colorimetric reagents. (From Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed, p301, p499)	Indicator,Reagent,Reagents,Indicators,Reagents and Indicators
D011136	Polysorbates	Sorbitan mono-9-octadecanoate poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) derivatives; complex mixtures of polyoxyethylene ethers used as emulsifiers or dispersing agents in pharmaceuticals.	Polysorbate,Polysorbate 20,Polysorbate 80,Sorbitan Derivatives,Tween,Tweens,PSML,Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan Monolaurate,Tween 20,Tween 60,Tween 80,Tween 81,Tween 85,20s, Polysorbate,20s, Tween,60s, Tween,80s, Polysorbate,80s, Tween,81s, Tween,85s, Tween,Derivative, Sorbitan,Derivatives, Sorbitan,Monolaurate, Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan,Monolaurates, Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan,PSMLs,Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan Monolaurates,Polysorbate 20s,Polysorbate 80s,Sorbitan Derivative,Sorbitan Monolaurate, Polyoxyethylene,Sorbitan Monolaurates, Polyoxyethylene,Tween 20s,Tween 60s,Tween 80s,Tween 81s,Tween 85s
D011506	Proteins	Linear POLYPEPTIDES that are synthesized on RIBOSOMES and may be further modified, crosslinked, cleaved, or assembled into complex proteins with several subunits. The specific sequence of AMINO ACIDS determines the shape the polypeptide will take, during PROTEIN FOLDING, and the function of the protein.	Gene Products, Protein,Gene Proteins,Protein,Protein Gene Products,Proteins, Gene
D004798	Enzymes	Biological molecules that possess catalytic activity. They may occur naturally or be synthetically created. Enzymes are usually proteins, however CATALYTIC RNA and CATALYTIC DNA molecules have also been identified.	Biocatalyst,Enzyme,Biocatalysts
D000192	Actinomycetales	An order of gram-positive, primarily aerobic BACTERIA that tend to form branching filaments.	Corynebacteriaceae,Coryneform Group
D001426	Bacterial Proteins	Proteins found in any species of bacterium.	Bacterial Gene Products,Bacterial Gene Proteins,Gene Products, Bacterial,Bacterial Gene Product,Bacterial Gene Protein,Bacterial Protein,Gene Product, Bacterial,Gene Protein, Bacterial,Gene Proteins, Bacterial,Protein, Bacterial,Proteins, Bacterial
D013053	Spectrophotometry	The art or process of comparing photometrically the relative intensities of the light in different parts of the spectrum.
D016477	Artifacts	Any visible result of a procedure which is caused by the procedure itself and not by the entity being analyzed. Common examples include histological structures introduced by tissue processing, radiographic images of structures that are not naturally present in living tissue, and products of chemical reactions that occur during analysis.	Artefacts,Artefact,Artifact