IEF of a small protein

[Ding Ming]

Dear netter,

I was working on the IEF(isoelectric focusing) gel electrophoresis of a
small protein which has eight cys and its MW is about 6,500. It was very
strange that I did see a whole lane smear after the electrophoresis when
the sample was not reduced by DTT. But after the sample was reduced by DTT,
this protein will give out a sharp band in the pH which was pretty much the
pI of this protein. Why did not the native protein shows one or several
bands on the gel? Can anyone give me a reference to explain this phenomena?

Thanks in advance.

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Ding Ming                           Telephone: (608)265-3544
University of Wisconsin-Madison          Fax: (608)262-7420

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