A series of five experiments for biochemistry laboratory featuring the purification and characterization of glutathione reductase (GR) from unicellular algae is described. The experiments are demonstrated using the marine diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and the freshwater green alga, Chlamydomonas reihnardtii, as sources for the enzyme. The algae are grown economically using ethanol-sterilized glassware and air tubing, with aeration provided by an aquarium pump. This GR purification introduces unicellular algae as a study subject, and exemplifies techniques in ion-exchange and affinity chromatography, size-exclusion techniques, dialysis, and enzyme activity analysis.

Five-part purification of an oxidoreductase from unicellular algae: An undergraduate biochemistry laboratory

245th National Meeting (2013)

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