The size, operation, and technical capabilities of protein and nucleic acid core facilities 1

Abstract

A survey of 40 protein and nucleic acid chemistry facilities has provided data about the capabilities of core facilities and the cost of the services they provide. Approximately 43% of the $158,000 average annual operating budget for a typical university facility is derived from service charges. After correcting for the various degrees of subsidization of the different facilities, it was found that it costs a typical university facility $65 to carry out an acid hydrolysis and amino acid analysis on a protein. A 25-residue peptide can be synthesized and cleaved for $2078, whereas sequencing the same peptide costs $874. A 25-residue oligonucleotide can be synthesized for $258. The total work output per month of an average facility corresponds to 65 amino acid analyses, 15 amino acid sequencing runs, three peptide syntheses, and 16 oligonucleotide syntheses. Depending on the approach used, from 85 to nearly 200 pmol of protein are required to obtain an accurate amino acid composition. To sequence the first 15 amino acids in a protein typically requires 150 pmol compared with 1.2 nmol of protein required to first carry out a tryptic digest and then isolate and sequence the first 15 residues in one of the resulting tryptic peptides.— Williams, K. R.; Niece, R. L.; Atherton, D.; Fowler, A. V.; Kutny, R.; Smith, A.J. The size, operation, and technical capabilities of protein and nucleic acid core facilities. FASEB J. 2: 3124-3130; 1988.