Protein concentration and - (Feb/16/2010 )

Hi all:
I am a student who is new to research, and I have a question for western blot. My question is how could I determine whether or not the protein is degraded. Can I tell from the protein concentration that I measured from the bio rad protein assay? (For instance, high concentration means the sample is still in good shape, whereas decrease protein concentration means protein is degraded)

Thank you so much in advance for clarify my questions.

End point assays such as BCA will not tell you protein integrity - have a look at how BCA etc. work, and it will give you some idea of why. Integrity... run a gel, stain.

bob1 on Feb 16 2010, 03:52 PM said:

Hi, Thank you for your reply. I have ran the a gel today, and stain. I am wondering if you can tell me how can I determine the protein integrity from the staining.

Thank you so much

If it's degraded there will be a smear or no discrete bands (other than low MW)