Sabtu, 08 Februari 2014

Some Applications Of Antibody Labeling

By Marcie Goodman


The use of antibody labeling techniques has revolutionized the field of research. It has made it possible to correctly identify proteins and to isolate them from a large pool. Most reagents that are used in chemical reactions today have molecules that are labelled. In most of these conjugation procedures, the label that is used can easily fluoresce to make the identification process easy. Labels that have this property are known as fluorophores.

There are two main types of labelling known. These include the in vitro and in vivo types. The in vitro type, as the name suggests, occurs outside the body. It involves a reaction between one amino acid acting as a substrate and another one acting as a label. A covalent bond is formed between the two. There are a number of things that are required for this reaction to take place: ATP molecules, polymerases and labelled amino acids.

The other type is known as metabolic labelling which is done in vivo (within the body). Nucleic acids and amino acids can be labelled by placing them in culture media that is labelled with nucleotides or amino acids. All the DNA and RNA molecules are conjugated as replication of these molecules takes simultaneously. Once the proteins of interest have been identified they can be isolated.

One of the greatest causes for concern is the fact that the conjugation process may result in interference of the intrinsic activity of the antibody or protein. Depending on the type of label that is used the avidity may be affected to different extents or may even remain unchanged. There are a number of methods that can be employed to determine the residual activity after the combination between the protein and the label.

It is important to ensure that the ration between the labels and the substrate is maintained within the recommended value. An optimal combination ration ensures that all the substrates are labelled as the conjugation reaction takes place. When the number of labels for each molecule is too high, the fluorescence may not take place and this may pose a great challenge to the person performing the chemical reaction.

The use of this procedure in active site probes is one of the commonest applications. The probes are designed to bind to an active site found on an enzyme. They are attached to a detectable tag, a reactive group and a spacer arm. The probes are electrophilic and easily react with nucleophilic residues on enzymes to form covalent links. The probes are for these reasons, used to identify different types of enzymes.

Active site probes are used for enzymes such as metalloproteases, serine hydrolases, kinases and phosphatases and the cytochrome p450 enzymes. The probes are commonly used to asses for the inhibition ability of some molecules. They are also used to assess the activity of specific enzymes. This corresponds to the potency of the enzymes. There are a number of enzymes that are known to act as labels for other proteins including alkaline phosphatase, horseradish peroxidase and glucose oxidase among others.

There is no doubt that antibody labeling has been a huge improvement as regards the monitoring of chemical reactions. The discovery has made it possible to identify and work with almost any substrate. There are numerous effects to streamline the whole process of labelling substrates and to eliminate possible disadvantages.




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