Approaching the thermodynamic view of protein folding through the reproduction of Anfinsen's experiment by undergraduate physical biochemistry students

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Abstract
In 1972 Christian B. Anfinsen received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “…his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation.” The understanding of this principle is crucial for physical biochemistry students, since protein folding studies, bio‐computing sciences and protein design approaches are founded on such a well‐demonstrated connection. Herein, we describe a detailed and easy‐to‐follow experiment to reproduce the most relevant assays carried out at Anfinsen's laboratory in the 60s. This experiment provides students with a platform to interpret by themselves the structural and kinetic experiments conceived to understand the protein folding problem. In addition, this three‐day experiment brings students a nice opportunity for protein manipulation as well as for the setting up of spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. © 2018 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 46(3):262–269, 2018.
Funding Information
  • “Programa de Apoyo a la Docencia Práctica” (BIO2016-78746-C2-1-R)