ChromoBlog

Nanobody-Fc fusion - An alternative Nanobody format that combines its special epitope binding properties with the detection options for Fc-domains

What are heavy chain antibodies?

Parts of them are used as epitope tags

Epitope tags, i.e. short peptide tags are commonly used, versatile, and convenient tools for multiple capture and detection applications including immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, affinity purification, and Western blotting.

ChromoTek is excited to announce that it has partnered with The Antibody Registry to assign unique identifiers, RRIDs, to ChromoTek’s line of Nanobody based immunoreagents and antibodies. Both the Antibody Registry and ChromoTek are displaying the RRIDs so researchers can reliably find these identifiers, required by many of the top scientific journals on both.

The pull-down of proteins is an established technology. It can be difficult, particularly when the protein of interest is expressed at low levels. Here we discuss 5 tips that help you to improve your IP results.

ChromoTek scientists Michael Metterlein and Christian Linke-Winnebeck have published a whitepaper that provides a comprehensive overview with key developments in the field of split fluorescent protein technology. It also includes a selection of case studies on how ChromoTek’s Nano-Traps have been applied to exploit the full potential of this technology for example in protein-protein interaction studies. Particularly, the ChromoTek GFP-Trap has been successfully applied to multiple assays using different split GFP variants. Assay types include protein self-complementation, bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC), tripartite fluorescence complementation (TriFC), and bimolecular complementation affinity purification (BiCAP).

The Spot-Nanobody (green) binds to the Spot-Tag sequence motif PDRVRAVSHWSS. Upon binding, the Spot-Tag peptide is embedded on the surface of the Spot-Nanobody and becomes a β-sheet extension of the Spot-V_HH. Defined interactions of the Spot-Nanobody’s side chains to the Spot-peptide determine specificity. In addition, the Spot-peptide is clamped by two amino acid side chains of the Spot-Nanobody. This binding mechanism elucidates why the Spot-Nanobody binds with high affinity to the Spot-Tag.

Nanobodies are the binding domains of heavy chain only antibodies from Camelids. Nanobodies can be recombinantly produced in bacterial and other animal-free expression systems depending on the actual Nanobody construct. In contrast, classical IgG antibodies are composed of two heavy chains and two light chains and are traditionally produced using hybridoma technlogies or are isolated from a host’s blood.

Nano-Secondaries are monoclonal Nanobodies that bind to primary antibodies in a species and subtype specific manner, i.e. Nano-Secondaries are very precise secondary antibodies. They are recombinantly produced in bacterial or other animal-free expression systems; in contrast, classical mono- or polyclonal secondary antibodies are traditionally produced using hybridoma technologies or are isolated from a host’s blood.