Reversible Denaturation of Enzymes by Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

Abstract

Successful renaturation of several oligomeric enzymes after denaturation by sodium dodecyl sulfate is described. The results obtained suggest a general procedure for reactivation of enzymes after treatment with this detergent. Proteins in dodecyl sulfate solution are first incubated in concentrated urea and are then freed of the detergent by an anion exchange resin. The resulting dodecyl sulfate-free proteins can be renatured from urea solution by standard procedures. This method has also been used to recover enzymatic activity in moderate yields of some proteins after electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate.