IDENTIFICATION OF PHYTATE IN PROTEINS USING POLYACRYLAMIDE DISK GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS

A technique for the identification of protein-phytate complexes on polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis precipitates the phytate as a white band of ferric phytate. A chromogenic reaction believed to be specific for iron was evaluated as a means to improve the visualization of the ferric phytate on the gels. The results suggest that white bands, which are formed when protein-phytate complexes on polyacrylamide gels are treated with iron solution, could be the result of nonspecific protein-iron interaction in addition to phytate-iron interaction. These findings were supported by experiments in which proteins containing no phytate gave positive staining for the reaction believed to be specific for phytate-iron complex.