Question

What are two non-detergent ways to rupture a cell? By what mechanism do they rupture the cell? What are the disadvantages of using these methods?

Answer 1

Cell disruption or lysis is the method for lysing the cell in order to release the contents out of cell, mainly done for isolating Nucleic acids, Proteins, Organelles, etc. There are mainly three methods to rupture or lysis of cells includes physical methods, chemical methods and enzymatic methods.

Freeze-Thaw is one physical method used to lyse bacterial and mammalian cells. This method involves freezing a cell suspension in a dry/freezer and then thawing at at 37 degreeC. This causes cells to swell and breaks as ice crystals form during the freezing process and then contract during thawing.

Motor and pistle method of mechanical grinding is commonly used to disrupt plant cells. The tissue is frozen in liquid Nitrogen and then crushed using motor and pestle. This method is fastest because of the tensile strength of the cellulose and polysaccharides comprising the cell wall.

Disadvantages includes the whole cell content will release out which makes it difficult to separate out a particular product of interest from mixture and the product may lose stability or activity.