A Master thesis!
Marija Andabak has successfully defended a master thesis titled: „Metallothionein detection in polyacrylamide gel by electrophoresis“. This thesis has been made at the Department of Chemistry, within the DEFENSoil project.
Mentor: Assistant professor Martina Šrajer Gajdošik, PhD
Assistant supervisor: Marija Paurević, mag. chem.
Abstract: Metallothioneins (MTs) are small peptides found in cells of wide range of living organisms. Their detection and quantification present challenge owing to their small molecular mass and specific structure. MTs structure is simple, consisted of one polypeptide chain, rich in cysteine, and metal ions bound in the center of that chain. Electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel is simple and available method for protein detection in complex biological samples. Since its conditions can be altered and optimized, even very small proteins can be detected by this method. The aim of this paper is to find best conditions for MTs detection in earthworm (lat. Lumbricus terrestris) tissue by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel. Many different factors that can affect efficacy of electrophoresis were experimentally verified: different sample preparation, concentration of polyacrylamide gel, samples derivatization with monobromobimane (mBBr) and buffers in electrophoretic system. Although MTs can be detected by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel, purification and fractionating of samples are necessary for successful analysis and better results.
