Copper/BCA assays are based on reduction of Cu2+ to Cu+
by amides. Although quite accurate,
these assays require freshly prepared reagent solutions, which must be carefully measured
and mixed during the assay. This is followed by lengthy, precisely timed incubations at closely
controlled, elevated temperatures, and then immediate absorbance measurements. Both
assays may be affected by other substances frequently present in biochemical solutions,
including detergents, lipids, buffers, and reducing agents (3). This requires that the assays also
include a series of standard solutions, each with a different, known concentration of protein,
but otherwise having the same composition as the sample solutions.
The Bradford dye assay is based on the equilibrium between three forms of Coomassie Blue G
dye. Under strongly acidic conditions, the dye is most stable in its double protonated form (red).
Upon binding to protein, however, it is most stable in an unprotonated form (blue).
In comparison with the other assays described above, the Bradford dye assay is faster, involves
fewer mixing steps, does not require heating, and gives a more stable colorimetric response.
The assay is prone, however, to influence from non-protein sources, particularly detergents,
and becomes progressively less linear at the high end of its useful protein concentration range.
The response also varies with the structure of the protein. These limitations make it necessary
to use protein standard solutions in this assay.
The Bradford dye reagent reacts primarily with arginine residues and, to a lesser extent,
with histidine, lysine, tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine residues. The assay is thus
less accurate for basic or acidic proteins and is more sensitive to bovine serum albumin than
"average" proteins, by about a factor of two. IgG is the preferred protein standard for the
Bradford dye assay.