Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, abbreviated as 2-DE or 2-D electrophoresis, is a form of gel electrophoresis commonly used to analyze proteins. Mixtures of proteins are separated by two properties in two dimensions on 2D gels. 2-DE was first independently introduced by O'Farrell and Klose in 1975.

2-D electrophoresis begins with electrophoresis in the first dimension and then separates the molecules perpendicularly from the first to create an electropherogram in the second dimension. In electrophoresis in the first dimension, molecules are separated linearly according to their isoelectric point. In the second dimension, the molecules are then separated at 90 degrees from the first electropherogram according to molecular mass. Since it is unlikely that two molecules will be similar in two distinct properties, molecules are more effectively separated in 2-D electrophoresis than in 1-D electrophoresis.

The two dimensions that proteins are separated into using this technique can be isoelectric point, protein complex mass in the native state, and protein mass.

Separation of the proteins by isoelectric point is called isoelectric focusing (IEF). Thereby, a gradient of pH is applied to a gel and an electric potential is applied across the gel, making one end more positive than the other. At all pH values other than their isoelectric point, proteins will be charged. If they are positively charged, they will be pulled towards the more negative end of the gel and if they are negatively charged they will be pulled to the more positive end of the gel. The proteins applied in the first dimension will move along the gel and will accumulate at their isoelectric point; that is, the point at which the overall charge on the protein is 0 (a neutral charge).

For the analysis of the functioning of proteins in a cell, the knowledge of their cooperation is essential. Most often proteins act together in complexes to be fully functional. The analysis of this sub organelle organisation of the cell requires techniques conserving the native state of the protein complexes. In native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (native PAGE), proteins remain in their native state and are separated in the electric field following their mass and the mass of their complexes respectively. To obtain a separation by size and not by net charge, as in IEF, an additional charge is transferred to the proteins by the use of Coomassie Brilliant Blue or lithium dodecyl sulfate. After completion of the first dimension the complexes are destroyed by applying the denaturing SDS-PAGE in the second dimension, where the proteins of which the complexes are composed of are separated by their mass.

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