Purification of His-Tagged Proteins

Ni-NTA affinity purification of His-tagged proteins is a bind-wash-elute procedure that can be performed under native or denaturing conditions. Here, protocols for purification of His-tagged proteins under native, as well as under denaturing conditions, are given. The choice whether to purify the target protein under native or denaturing conditions depends on protein location and solubility, the accessibility of the His tag, and the desired downstream application. His-tagged proteins can be purified by a single-step affinity chromatography, namely immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC), which is commercially available in different kinds of formats, Ni-NTA matrices being the most widely used. The provided protocols describe protein purification in the batch binding mode and apply gravity-assisted flow in disposable columns; this procedure is simple to conduct and extremely robust. IMAC purification can equally be performed in prepacked columns using FPLC or other liquid chromatography instrumentation, or using magnetic bead-based methods (Block et al., 2009).