Introduction
Amino acids are an important class of organic compounds containing amine (-NH2) and carboxylic acid (-COOH)
functional groups, a group of chemically distinct compounds found in proteins and peptides. Which play a vital role
in biological processes such as neurobiosynthesis and transmitter transport. Amino acid analysis is an important
biochemical technology in each stage of drug discovery. It can determine the composition and content of amino acids
in protein (peptide) drugs, and can identify atypical amino acids in protein (polypeptide) drugs. Amino acid
composition analysis is a necessary step before full sequencing of biopharmaceuticals, and can provide strong
evidence for confirming the primary structure of biopharmaceuticals.
Fig.
1. Scheme of derivatization procedure of three different amino acids—glycine (a), proline (b) and lysine (c) with
the use of Acc.QTag Ultra derivatization reagent and generation of appropriate products of the reaction. (Gauthier
J, et al., 2019)
Our Services
Amino acid analysis is an important and necessary step in the process of drug discovery and development. As a
reliable partner of biopharmaceuticals, Creative Proteomics aims to provide you with reliable and
high-quality amino acid analysis services based on advanced instruments and first-class experience. Our Scientists
are on hand to discuss the right solution for your biopharmaceutical and development phase.
Our biopharmaceutical amino acid analysis (AAA) service allows you to measure the protein concentration of your
product and demonstrate control of the manufacturing process by demonstrating batch-to-batch consistency.
To analyze the amino acid composition of biopharmaceuticals, our lab technicians first decompose peptides into their
constituent amino acids, followed by pre-column derivatization where the resulting amino acids are derivatized with
OPA (o-phthalaldehyde) or phenylisothiocyanate (PITC). These amino acids are then separated by gradient elution with
high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection, and then the content of each amino acid
derivative is determined by an external standard method, thereby obtaining information on the composition and
content of amino acids in the protein sample.
According to the ICH Q6B guideline, amino acid composition analysis provides some structural information for peptides
and small proteins in many cases, but these data are often less conclusive for larger proteins. In order to
characterize biopharmaceuticals more thoroughly, Creative Proteomics provides the following
analytical services to our customers but not limited to.
- Amino acid sequence snalysis.
- Amino acid composition analysis.
- Terminal amino acid sequence analysis.
- Extinction coefficient.
- Protein concentration calculation and characterization.
- Determination of total amino acids.
- Determination of free amino acids.
- Identification of atypical amino acids present in protein/peptide pharmaceuticals.
- Purity and impurity analysis.
- Amino acid content analysis.
Creative Proteomics is a reliable biopharmaceutical partner. Our professional team can provide
customers with complete identification and quantitative information on the associated amino acids in protein/peptide
samples. Additionaly, we will provide you with detailed experimental procedures and data reports. Please contact us immediately If you are interested in our services.
References
- Rutherfurd S M, Gilani G S. (2009) Amino acid analysis. Curr Protoc Protein Sci. Chapter 11:Unit 11.9.
