Protein Extraction from Fat

[Dr Engelbert Buxbaum]

Am 21.08.2008, 14:30 Uhr, schrieb Joel Schneider  
<joelschneider914 from gmail.com>:

> I am currently interested in analyzing the protein content of a fat  
> sample I
> recently harvested. Is there a particular protein extraction method
> recommended for fat?

That depends on what type of protein (large/small,  
hydrophilic/hydrophobic) you want to extract for which application (IEF,  
MS, aa analysis, Edman sequencing...). It also depends on the nature of  
the sample, small amounts of protein in a dietary fat would certainly be  
treated differently than the membrane proteins from a cell homogenisation.

In principle, you have two possibilities:
- solubilising proteins and fat in detergents followed by separation of  
protein containing micelles
- removing the fat with organic solvents followed by solubilisation of the  
protein residue (e.g. the Wessel & Flügge procedure).