Benzonase nuclease (Novagen) was used in combination with BugBuster in order to reduce the sample viscosity. Proteins were visualized on a 12% SDS-polyacrylamide gel. Thirty microlitres of the lysate supernatant was added to 20 μL of sample CHIR-99021 research buy buffer (3.55 mL of deionized water, 1.25 mL of 0.5 M Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 2.5 mL of glycerol, 2.0 mL of 10% (w/v) SDS, 0.2 mL of 0.5% (w/v) and 2.5 μL of β-mercaptoethanol. Ten microlitres of this mix was loaded on an SDS-polyacrylamide gel in order to visualize the proteins. The gels ran for 40 min at 180 V and were then stained in staining buffer (0.05% Brilliant Blue R, 25% isopropanol, 10% acetic acid) for 1 h and destained

(40% ethanol, 7% acetic acid) for 1 h before being visualized. HisTrap FastFlow Crude 5 mL columns were used with an AKTAPrime plus pump (GE Healthcare) with an immobilized metal affinity chromatography technique. Three millilitres of the lysate were mixed with 2 mL of binding buffer (20 mM phosphate buffer with 0.5 M sodium chloride and 40 mM imidazole) and injected into the instrument. The elution buffer was identical to the binding buffer, except that

the imidazole concentration was increased to 0.5 M for efficient removal of the bound protein from the fraction. Eluted fractions containing the partially purified protein were then pooled and concentrated using Amicon-15 device (Millipore) with a 30K membrane cut-off and spun for 10 min at 5000 g before desalting with Zeba columns as recommended (Pierce). Escherichia coli learn more pQE60+gp29 clones were grown at 37°C in LB broth supplemented with 100 μg mL−1 ampicillin to an OD600 nm of 0.5 and then induced with a final concentration of 1 mM IPTG. One hour after induction, 2% chloroform was added to the cell suspension and OD600 nm was monitored. Chloroform permeabilizes the inner membrane, thus replacing the holin function, and allows Hydroxychloroquine mouse the putative lysin to reach its target in the peptidoglycan

layer. The reduction in OD600 nm after addition of chloroform to 10 mL of induced clones was recorded. Micrococcus lysodeikticus (0.2%) ATCC no. 4698 (Sigma) was incorporated into a 12% polyacrylamide gel. Thirty microlitres of the enzyme solution was added to 20 μL sample buffer (bromophenol blue and 2.5 μL β-mercaptoethanol). Ten microlitres of the mixture was loaded on the zymogram gel. After running for 50 min at 180 V, the gel was rinsed in distilled water for 30 min at room temperature, then put in renaturation buffer (25 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0 with 1% Triton X 100) for 30 min at room temperature and finally left overnight, gently shaking at 37 °C overnight in renaturation buffer. After renaturation, the gel was rinsed in distilled water and stained for 1 h with 0.01% NaOH containing 0.1% methylene blue, shaking at room temperature.