A multimodal histamine ligand for chromatographic purification of plasmid DNA

To exploit different chromatographic modes for efficient plasmid DNA (pDNA) purification a novel monolithic chromatographic support bearing multimodal histamine (HISA) groups was developed and characterized. Electrostatic charge of HISA groups depends on the pH of the mobile phase, being neutral above pH 7 and becoming positively charged below. As a consequence, HISA groups exhibit predominantly ion-exchange character at low pH values, which decreases with titration of the HISA groups resulting in increased hydrophobicity. This feature enabled separation of supercoiled (sc) pDNA from other plasmid isoforms (and other process related impurities) by adjusting salt or pH gradient. The dynamic binding capacity (DBC) for a 5.1 kbp large plasmid at pH 5 was 4.0 mg/ml under low salt binding conditions, remaining relatively high (3.0 mg/ml) even in the presence of 1.0 M NaCl due to the multimodal nature of HISA ligand. Only slightly lower DBC (2.7 mg/ml) was determined under preferentially hydrophobic conditions in 3.0 M (NH4)2SO4, pH 7.4. Open circular and sc pDNA isoforms were baseline separated in descending (NH4)2SO4 gradient. Furthermore, an efficient plasmid DNA separation was possible both on analytical as well as on preparative scale by applying the descending pH gradient at a constant concentration (above 3.0 M) of (NH4)2SO4.

► A new chromatographic method for the separation of pDNA isoforms was developed.
► The method employs a multimodal histamine ligand on a monolith.
► Hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions are expressed simultaneously.
► The balance of interaction is determined by the titration state of the histamine.
► Both plasmid isoforms were proven to be selectively eluted on an analytical as well as on preparative scale.