CITRATE SYNTHASES FROM THE ARCHAEA - DEVELOPMENT OF A BIO-SPECIFIC, AFFINITY-CHROMATOGRAPHY PURIFICATION PROCEDURE

Citrate synthases from both thermophilic and halophilic Archaea have been purified to homogeneity using affinity chromatography on Matrex Gel Red A and elution with a combination of substrate (oxaloacetate) and product (coenzyme A). In a number of cases, purification from cell-extract to protein suitable for N-terminal sequencing can be achieved by this single-step procedure. The method is particularly useful in the rapid purification of a thermophilic archaeal citrate synthase from a cloned gene expressed in a mesophilic host.