# Copurification

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'''Copurification''' in a [chemical](/source/chemistry) or [biochemical](/source/biochemistry) context is the physical [separation](/source/separation_process) by [chromatography](/source/chromatography) or other [purification technique](/source/list_of_purification_methods_in_chemistry) of two or more substances of interest from other [contaminating](/source/contamination) substances. For substances to co-purify usually implies that these substances attract each other to form a [non-covalent](/source/noncovalent_bonding) [complex](/source/complex_(chemistry)) such as in a [protein complex](/source/protein_complex).<ref name="isbn0-87969-628-1">{{cite book | author = Golemis, Erica | title = Protein–protein interactions: a molecular cloning manual | publisher = Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press | location = Plainview, N.Y | year = 2002 | isbn = 0-87969-628-1 }}</ref>

However, when [fractionating](/source/fractionation) mixtures, especially mixtures containing large numbers of components (for example a [cell lysate](/source/Lysis)), it is possible by chance that some components may copurify even though they don't form complexes. In this context the term copurification is sometimes used to denote when two biochemical activities or some other property are isolated together after purification but it is not certain if the sample has been purified to homogeneity (i.e., contains only one molecular species or one molecular complex). Hence these activities or properties are likely but not guaranteed to reside on the same molecule or in the same molecular complex.

== Applications ==

Copurification procedures, such as [co-immunoprecipitation](/source/co-immunoprecipitation), are commonly used to analyze interactions between proteins.<ref name="isbn0-12-544169-X">{{cite book | author = Schon, Eric A. | author2 = Pon, Liza A. | title = Mitochondria | series = Methods in Cell Biology | volume = 65 | publisher = Academic Press | location = Boston | year = 2001 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/mitochondria65ponl/page/218 218–219] | isbn = 0-12-544169-X | url = https://archive.org/details/mitochondria65ponl/page/218 | url-access = registration }}</ref> Copurification is one method used to map the [interactome](/source/interactome) of living organisms.<ref name="pmid18474861">{{cite journal | vauthors = Stumpf MP, Thorne T, de Silva E, Stewart R, An HJ, Lappe M, Wiuf C | title = Estimating the size of the human interactome | journal = Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. | volume = 105 | issue = 19 | pages = 6959–64 |date=May 2008 | pmid = 18474861 | pmc = 2383957 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0708078105 |bibcode = 2008PNAS..105.6959S | doi-access = free }}</ref>

== References ==
thumb|150px|Erica Golemnis in 2011
{{Reflist}}

Category:Biological techniques and tools
Category:Chromatography
Category:Separation processes

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