Concentrations of proteins and nucleic acids in mammalian cells

Range proteins 50-250: nucleic acids 20-50 g/L
Organism Mammals
Reference Theillet FX et al., Physicochemical properties of cells and their effects on intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Chem Rev. 2014 Jul 9 114(13):6661-714. doi: 10.1021/cr400695p p.6665 right column 3rd paragraphPubMed ID24901537
Primary Source [115] Conlon I, Raff M. Differences in the way a mammalian cell and yeast cells coordinate cell growth and cell-cycle progression. J Biol. 2003 2(1):7 [116] Zeskind BJ et al., Nucleic acid and protein mass mapping by live-cell deep-ultraviolet microscopy. DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1053 [117] Cheung MC et al., Intracellular protein and nucleic acid measured in eight cell types using deep-ultraviolet mass mapping. Cytometry A. 2013 Jun83(6):540-51. doi: 10.1002/cyto.a.22277PubMed ID12733998, 17546037, 23504822
Method Primary source [116] abstract: "[Investigators] developed a deep-ultraviolet (UV) microscope capable of imaging cell mitosis and motility at 280 nm for 45 min with minimal UV-induced toxicity, and for 6 h before the onset of visible cell death in cultured human and mouse cells. Combined with computational methods that convert the intensity of each pixel into an estimate of mass, deep-UV microscopy images generate maps of nucleic acid mass, protein mass and fluorescence yield in unlabeled cells." Primary source [117] abstract: "[Investigators] present measurements by deep-ultraviolet mass mapping of nucleic acid (NA) and protein for five commonly cultured and three primary cell types. The dry mass distribution at submicron resolution was determined on a single-cell basis for 250-500 cells from each of these types. Since the method carries a direct reference to a spectrophotometric standard (molar extinction coefficient), [they] are able to calibrate the absolute weight distributions both on a cell-to-cell basis within each type and across types. [They] also provide a calibration in absolute mass units for fluorescence-based measurements (flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy)."
Comments P.6665 right column 3rd paragraph: "In mammalian cells, protein concentrations ranging from 50 to 250 g/L and nucleic acid concentrations of 20–50 g/L have been determined, which vary with cell types (primary sources)."
Entered by Uri M
ID 115855