AccScience Publishing / GPD / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/gpd.0547
SHORT COMMUNICATION

How the West(ern) was won: Solutions for immunoblotting large and small proteins

Paula Llabata1* Pere Llinàs-Arias2*
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1 Cancer Genetics Group, Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, 08916 Barcelona, Spain
2 Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory, Cancer Cell Biology Group, Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Illes Balears (IdISBa), 07122 Palma, Spain
Submitted: 18 April 2023 | Accepted: 15 June 2023 | Published: 30 June 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Relative protein quantification is a well-established technique in the vast majority of molecular biology laboratories. However, western blot standard protocols may not detect proteins of certain sizes. When the molecular weight of protein of interest is out of the 10–250 kDa range, its migration through the gel or transfer to the membrane is compromised, making its detection difficult. Here, we present a set of modifications of the standard working procedure for western blotting based on the experience working with small VCP-interacting protein and MAX-gene-associated protein, whose molecular weights are 8 and 350 kDa, respectively. We expect that these adaptations may help researchers to improve their experiments in a cost-effective manner.

Keywords
Western blot
Immunoblotting
Large proteins
Small proteins
Small VCP-interacting protein
MAX-gene-associated protein
Funding
Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness FPI Fellowship
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Gene & Protein in Disease, Electronic ISSN: 2811-003X Published by AccScience Publishing