Skip to main content

Microscale Thermophoresis for the Assessment of Nuclear Protein-Binding Affinities

  • Protocol
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1094))

Abstract

The rapid advance in our knowledge of cellular regulatory mechanisms, including those involving chromatin-based processes, stems in part from the development of biophysical techniques such as fluorescence spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Despite their widespread utility, each of these techniques has its pros and cons, and new techniques are still required. Here we describe the application of microscale thermophoresis (MST), a novel technique based on thermophoresis, to characterize the binding between histone peptides and a histone chaperone protein, in free solution, with high sensitivity and low sample consumption.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Protocol
USD   49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Springer Nature is developing a new tool to find and evaluate Protocols. Learn more

References

  1. Duhr S, Braun D (2006) Why molecules move along a temperature gradient. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103:19678–19682

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wienken CJ, Baaske P, Rothbauer U et al (2010) Protein-binding assays in biological liquids using microscale thermophoresis. Nat Commun 1:100

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Seidel I, Wienken CJ, Geissler S et al (2012) Label-free microscale thermophoresis discriminates sites and affinity of protein-ligand binding. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 51:10656–10659

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Luger K, Mader A, Richmond R et al (1997) Crystal structure of the nucleosome core particle at 2.8 Å resolution. Nature 389:251–260

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Strahl BD, Allis CD (2000) The language of covalent histone modifications. Nature 403:41–45

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kouzarides T (2007) Chromatin modifications and their function. Cell 128:693–705

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Elsasser SJ, D’Arcy S (2011) Towards a mechanism for histone chaperones. Biochim Biophys Acta 1819:211–221

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Zhang W, Tyl M, Ward R et al (2012) Structural plasticity of histones H3-H4 facilitates their allosteric exchange between RbAp48 and ASF1. Nat Struct Mol Biol 20:29–35

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Richart AN, Brunner CI, Stott K et al (2012) Characterization of chromoshadow domain-mediated binding of heterochromatin protein 1alpha (HP1alpha) to histone H3. J Biol Chem 287:18730–18737

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Lejon S, Thong SY, Murthy A et al (2011) Insights into association of the NuRD complex with FOG-1 from the crystal structure of an RbAp48/FOG-1 complex. J Biol Chem 286:1196–1203

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust—grant 082010/Z/07/Z. We thank the PNAC facility in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, for mass spectrometry and amino acid analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media, New York

About this protocol

Cite this protocol

Zhang, W., Duhr, S., Baaske, P., Laue, E. (2014). Microscale Thermophoresis for the Assessment of Nuclear Protein-Binding Affinities. In: Stockert, J., Espada, J., Blázquez-Castro, A. (eds) Functional Analysis of DNA and Chromatin. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1094. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-706-8_21

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-706-8_21

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-705-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-706-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics