IMMUNOAFFINITY PURIFICATION AND RECONSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN BILIRUBIN PHENOL UDP-GLUCURONOSYLTRANSFERASE FAMILY

When membrane proteins are solubilized and subjected to purification procedures, the loss of lipids surrounding the protein often results in irreversible inactivation. We describe a procedure for the immunoaffinity purification of the membrane protein UDP-glucuronosyltransferase from human liver. This procedure reduces exposure of the protein to detergent, thereby reducing lipid loss. Triton X-100 was used to solubilize human Liver microsomes. The solubilized proteins were applied to a sephacryl 300 (S-300) gel filtration column equilibrated with detergent-free buffer. UDP-glucuronosyltransferase activity eluted in turbid fractions in the void volume. During passage through the column Triton X-100 can partition in the buffer, while lipids are reconstituted into vesicular structures. Proteins with a high affinity for phospholipids remain associated with the lipid and elute in the void volume. The active fractions from the S-300 column were resolubilized with Triton X-100 and applied to a column with immobilized antibody. Washing this column with buffer containing phosphatidylcholine liposomes and no detergent removed unbound proteins and minimized loss of lipid from bound UDP-glucuronosyltransferase. Raising the pH of the washing buffer to 11.5 in the presence of liposomes resulted in elution and simultaneous reconstitution of active UDP-glucuronosyltransferase. Antibodies against membrane proteins are often available but immunoaffinitypurification of active enzyme is difficult. The approach described here could be useful for the isolation of other membrane proteins. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.