Biochemistry

Dialysis is a common biochemistry technique for buffer exchange and desalting. It separates molecules by diffusion through a semipermeable membrane, which lets small molecules pass while holding larger biomolecules inside the sample.

The membrane is the key part of the setup. Its pores create a molecular weight cutoff, so a membrane such as a 10 kDa membrane usually keeps molecules larger than 10 kilodaltons inside. This cutoff is not exact, because membranes have a range of pore sizes.

Enzyme reaction rates can be measured with assays that track how substrate or product levels change over time. Enzymes are proteins, or sometimes RNAs, that speed up chemical reactions by lowering the activation energy needed to start them. They act on a specific substrate and help form a product that supports life processes.

Enzymatic reactions are often described in three steps. First, the substrate binds to the enzyme active site and forms an enzyme-substrate complex. That complex can fall...

MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry reads biomolecules by using a laser, a matrix, and a time-of-flight analyzer. MALDI, or matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization, helps fragile molecules keep their structure while they are moved into the mass analyzer. The analyzer then separates compounds based on size and charge.

In MALDI, the sample is mixed into a matrix, usually an organic compound with aromatic and conjugated double bonds. A laser pulse strikes the spot, and the matrix absorbs most of the...

Tandem mass spectrometry is used to isolate a biomolecule and break it into smaller pieces so its makeup can be studied. Because biomolecules often have large, complex structures, it can be hard to identify their molecular composition and sequence from a single measurement. By linking mass spectrometers in series, the technique first selects one ion and then analyzes the fragments it produces.

The process starts with an ion source that converts the sample into ions. A mass analyzer then...

Protein crystals help scientists study protein structure and function. A crystal is a solid lattice made from purified protein molecules. These crystals are useful in structural biology because they reveal details that methods like mass spectrometry and SDS-PAGE cannot show on their own. Protein crystallization is paired with recombinant protein expression and x-ray diffraction to support this work.

The process starts with a large amount of very pure protein. Researchers often make that...

Protein purification with size-exclusion chromatography and affinity chromatography helps isolate biomolecules from complex mixtures. These methods are common in biochemistry because purified samples are needed before a biomolecule’s properties and activity can be studied. The video focuses on the principles behind size-exclusion chromatography, affinity chromatography, and immobilized metal affinity chromatography, or IMAC.

Size-exclusion chromatography, or SEC, separates molecules by size. A...

Protein mapping with 2D gel electrophoresis separates complex protein mixtures across two steps. The method combines isoelectric focusing, or IEF, with sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, or SDS-PAGE. Together, these methods can resolve thousands of biomolecules from a single sample by their isoelectric point and molecular weight.

The first dimension is IEF. Each protein has an isoelectric point, or pI, which is the pH where its net charge is zero. Proteins are loaded...

Metabolic labeling tracks cell chemistry by using chemical analogs that cells take up and build into biomolecules. These labels help scientists follow biochemical changes and modifications inside cells. The labeled products can then be studied with tools such as SDS-PAGE and NMR to learn more about metabolic pathways.

Several labeling strategies are shown here. Isotopic labeling uses analogs that match the natural molecule but contain uncommon isotopes, such as carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 in an...

Electrophoretic mobility shift assay, or EMSA, is a biochemical method used to detect binding between proteins and nucleic acids. It is also called a gel shift assay. The test compares how a labeled nucleic acid moves through a gel before and after it binds a protein.

EMSA is used to see whether a specific protein binds to a specific nucleic acid. First, the nucleic acid is labeled to make a probe. The transcript describes radioactive phosphorus-32 as a common label. The probe is then mixed...

Measuring protein concentration with absorbance is a key step in many biochemical assays. Photometric methods use the fact that samples with more light-absorbing material transmit less light. Because concentration and absorption are directly related, this makes it possible to measure an unknown sample.

The core idea comes from the Beer-Lambert Law. This law states that the concentration of a light-absorbing species is proportional to its absorbance. The video also introduces the Bradford assay...

Sucrose gradient separation in an ultracentrifuge is a lab method for isolating cell parts and biomolecules. It uses differences in density to make particles sink or rise in a liquid. A high-speed ultracentrifuge speeds up this process so components can be separated without destroying them.

The basic idea starts with a suspension, which is particles mixed in a liquid solvent. Particles that are denser than the solvent sediment, while less dense particles float. A rotor inside the...

Co-immunoprecipitation and pull-down assays are laboratory methods used to capture stable protein-protein interactions. Protein-protein interactions help control many biological functions, but many of them have not yet been identified. These assays are related to immunoprecipitation, which isolates a target protein from a mixed sample using an antibody.

In co-immunoprecipitation, or CoIP, an antibody binds the target protein, and that protein is already attached to another protein that the...

Membrane proteins can be moved into liposome models so their function can be studied outside a cell. Reconstitution means restoring an isolated biomolecule to a working form. For membrane proteins, that usually means placing a purified protein into an artificial lipid membrane.

Cell membranes are made mainly of phospholipids and membrane proteins. The phospholipids form a bilayer with hydrophilic phosphate heads facing water and hydrophobic fatty acid tails facing inward. Some membrane...

Föster resonance energy transfer, or FRET, is a way to study close-range biochemical interactions using light-emitting molecules. A donor fluorophore can pass energy to an acceptor fluorophore when their emission and absorption spectra overlap. This transfer happens only when the pair is very close together, usually within 10 nm.

Because FRET depends on distance, it is often called a molecular or spectroscopic ruler. The strength of the signal is measured as FRET efficiency, which describes...

Surface plasmon resonance, or SPR, is a way to track biomolecular binding on a label-free biosensor. It is used to measure molecular affinity, kinetics, specificity, and concentration. The method works with a thin metal layer on a prism, where changes in reflected light reveal interactions in real time.

SPR sensors use a thin layer of a noble metal on the face of a prism. Light is reflected from the prism-metal interface into a photodetector. At one specific angle, called the surface plasmon...