Coomassie staining

[newittja at delphi.com]

Anne Savitt <asavitt at sunysb.edu> writes:
 
>I have a question about Coomassie staining.  I have tried searching
>Medline, but needless to say, asking about Coomassie generates far too
>many references.  What I would like to know is this:  what about a
>protein makes it Coomassie stainable?  Are some proteins less susceptible
>to Coomassie staining than others?  If so, why?
 
 
There is some evidence that the number of lysine, histidine, and
arginine residues in a protein strongly influence staining due to
interaction of basic groups with the dye at acidic pH.  See refs:
 
	Compton, S.J. and C.G. Jones (1985) Anal. Biochem. 151:369-374.
 
	Merril, C.R. (1990) Meths. Enzymol. 182:477-488.
 
Hope this helps.
 
	- John  <newittja at delphi.com>