The Enzyme Purification Laboratory

Abstract

This chapter introduces the basic methods and equipment used in enzyme purification. It is entirely possible to purify enzymes using relatively simple equipment; the bare essentials might be considered a centrifuge and a UV spectrophotometer. Of course, access to a wider range of equipment and automated systems can make life much easier. But more elaborate equipment and procedures have their cost. It will be stressed many times in this book that delays during isolation of any enzyme must be avoided. Any procedure that relies on using equipment which is slow, unreliable, or sometimes unavailable is dangerous. By relying only on relatively simple and common apparatus, delays can usually be avoided. The message is clear: always use the simplest of procedures first, and use specialized methods only when all else has failed.