A Simplification of the Protein Assay Method of Lowry Et Al. Which is More Generally Applicable

Some recent modifications of the protein assay by the method of Lowry, Rosebrough, Farr, and Randall (1951, J. Biol. Chem.193, 265–275) have been reexamined and altered to provide a consolidated method which is simple, rapid, objective, and more generally applicable. A DOC-TCA protein precipitation technique provides for rapid quantitative recovery of soluble and membrane proteins from interfering substances even in very dilute solutions (< 1 μg/ml of protein). SDS is added to alleviate possible nonionic and cationic detergent and lipid interferences, and to provide mild conditions for rapid denaturation of membrane and proteolipid proteins. A simple method based on a linear log-log protein standard curve is presented to permit rapid and totally objective protein analysis using small programmable calculators. The new modification compared favorably with the original method of Lowry et al.