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Extraction and analysis of soluble inositol polyphosphates from yeast

Nature Protocols volume 1, pages 2416–2422 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Soluble inositol polyphosphates are implicated in the regulation of many important cellular functions. This protocol to extract and separate inositol polyphosphates from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is divided into three steps: labeling of yeast, extraction of soluble inositol polyphosphates and chromatographic separation. Yeast cells are incubated with tritiated inositol, which is taken up and metabolized into different phosphorylated forms. Soluble inositol polyphosphates are then acid-extracted and fractionated by high-performance liquid chromatography. The radioactivity of each fraction is determined by scintillation counting. This highly sensitive and reproducible method allows the accurate detection of subtle changes in the inositol polyphosphate profile and takes less than 48 h. It can easily be applied to other systems and we have included two adaptations of the protocol, one optimized for mammalian cells and the other for Arabidopsis thaliana.

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Figure 1: Structure of inositol and some of its polyphosphate derivates.
Figure 2
Figure 3: HPLC elution gradient used to separate radiolabeled soluble inositol polyphosphates.
Figure 4: Typical HPLC elution profiles of soluble inositol polyphosphates from different yeast strains radiolabeled with [3H]inositol using a Partisphere SAX column.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Drs. A. Mudge, A. Riccio and the Saiardi laboratory for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by MRC funding of the Cell Biology Unit and by EC through an IRG.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical Research Council (MRC) Cell Biology Unit and Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Cristina Azevedo & Adolfo Saiardi

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  1. Cristina Azevedo
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Correspondence to Adolfo Saiardi.

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Azevedo, C., Saiardi, A. Extraction and analysis of soluble inositol polyphosphates from yeast. Nat Protoc 1, 2416–2422 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.337

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