Effect of organic acids in the prevention of aggregation on rapid refolding of proteins.

The effect of organic acids on the aggregation of protein(s) during rapid refolding is studied. Using egg white lysozyme, it is observed that acetic acid not only prevents aggregation, but also aids the protein to refold back to its native, biologically active state. In contrast, formic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid fail to exhibit this property. Using circular dichroism spectroscopy it has been found that an 'aggregation-insensitive' partially folded intermediate state is induced in 0.35M acetic acid.