Abstract
Western blotting is a technique that involves the separation of proteins by gel electrophoresis, their blotting or transfer to a membrane, and selective immunodetection of an immobilized antigen. This is an important and routine method for protein analysis that depends on the specificity of antibody-antigen interaction and is useful for the qualitative or semiquantitative identification of specific proteins and their molecular weight from a complex mixture. This chapter will outline the requisite steps including gel electrophoresis of a protein sample, transfer of protein from a gel to a membrane support, and immunodetection of a target antigen.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Mahmood T, Yang PC (2012) Western blot: technique, theory, and trouble shooting. N Am J Med Sci 4:429–434
Weiss W, Görg A (2008) Sample solubilization buffers for two-dimensional electrophoresis. Methods Mol Biol 424:35–42
Cordwell SJ (2008) Sequential extraction of proteins by chemical reagents. Methods Mol Biol 424:139–146
Friedenauer S, Berlet HH (1989) Sensitivity and variability of the Bradford protein assay in the presence of detergents. Anal Biochem 178:263–268
Walker JM (1994) The bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay for protein quantitation. Methods Mol Biol 32:5–8
Kurien BT, Scofield RH (2006) Western blotting. Methods 38:283–293
Fowler SJ (1995) Use of monoclonal antibodies for western blotting with enhanced chemiluminescent detection. Methods Mol Biol 45:115–127
Alegria-Schaffer A, Lodge A, Vattem K (2009) Performing and optimizing Western blots with an emphasis on chemiluminescent detection. Methods Enzymol 463:573–599
Sandhu GS, Eckloff BW, Kline BC (1991) Chemiluminescent substrates increase sensitivity of antigen detection in western blots. Biotechniques 11:14–16
Dubitsky A, DeCollibus D, Ortolano GA (2002) Sensitive fluorescent detection of protein on nylon membranes. J Biochem Biophys Methods 51:47–56
MacPhee DJ (2010) Methodological considerations for improving Western blot analysis. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 61:171–177
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Hnasko, T.S., Hnasko, R.M. (2015). The Western Blot. In: Hnasko, R. (eds) ELISA. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1318. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2742-5_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2742-5_9
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2741-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2742-5
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols