Rapid and reliable protein extraction from yeast

Abstract

The methods currently used for protein extraction from yeast are either laborious or insufficiently reliable. Here I report a method for protein extraction for electrophoretic analysis that is both easy and reliable. In this method, yeast cells are subjected to mild alkali treatment and then boiled in a standard electrophoresis loading buffer. The method was tested for different strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and for yeast Hansenula polymorpha DL-1. It yields virtually complete extraction independently of the strain, growth conditions and protein molecular weight and allows working with small amounts of yeast cells grown on agar plates.