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Ultra-High-Speed Western Blot using Immunoreaction Enhancing Technology
Published on: September 26, 2020
Elimination of keratin artifact bands from western blots by using low concentrations of reducing agents
1Plant Pathology Department, 211 Buckhout Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Abstract:
We encountered beta-mercaptoethanol-dependent artifact signals in western blot analyses using polyclonal antisera. Replacing beta-mercaptoethanol with dithiothreitol in the loading buffer did not eliminate the artifact signals. However, lowering the concentration of either dithiothreitol or beta-mercaptoethanol eliminated the background problems and allowed specific detection of the target protein. These results are consistent with the background signal being caused by anti-keratin antibodies in the antisera and keratin contamination of reagents. This study highlights the importance of testing a range of reducing agent concentrations when trying to eliminate artifact bands from western blots. However, this method may not be applicable when target proteins have disulfide bridges.
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