The ALFA-tag is a highly versatile tool for nanobody-based bioscience applications
(2019) In Nature Communications 10.- Abstract
Specialized epitope tags are widely used for detecting, manipulating or purifying proteins, but often their versatility is limited. Here, we introduce the ALFA-tag, a rationally designed epitope tag that serves a remarkably broad spectrum of applications in life sciences while outperforming established tags like the HA-, FLAG®- or myc-tag. The ALFA-tag forms a small and stable α-helix that is functional irrespective of its position on the target protein in prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts. We characterize a nanobody (NbALFA) binding ALFA-tagged proteins from native or fixed specimen with low picomolar affinity. It is ideally suited for super-resolution microscopy, immunoprecipitations and Western blotting, and also allows in vivo... (More)
Specialized epitope tags are widely used for detecting, manipulating or purifying proteins, but often their versatility is limited. Here, we introduce the ALFA-tag, a rationally designed epitope tag that serves a remarkably broad spectrum of applications in life sciences while outperforming established tags like the HA-, FLAG®- or myc-tag. The ALFA-tag forms a small and stable α-helix that is functional irrespective of its position on the target protein in prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts. We characterize a nanobody (NbALFA) binding ALFA-tagged proteins from native or fixed specimen with low picomolar affinity. It is ideally suited for super-resolution microscopy, immunoprecipitations and Western blotting, and also allows in vivo detection of proteins. We show the crystal structure of the complex that enabled us to design a nanobody mutant (NbALFAPE) that permits efficient one-step purifications of native ALFA-tagged proteins, complexes and even entire living cells using peptide elution under physiological conditions.
(Less)
- author
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019-09-27
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature Communications
- volume
- 10
- article number
- 4403
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85072701941
- pmid:31562305
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41467-019-12301-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 36d036e0-e8e9-47c0-a056-c30beca2a519
- date added to LUP
- 2019-10-02 07:40:47
- date last changed
- 2024-09-19 10:15:12
@article{36d036e0-e8e9-47c0-a056-c30beca2a519, abstract = {{<p>Specialized epitope tags are widely used for detecting, manipulating or purifying proteins, but often their versatility is limited. Here, we introduce the ALFA-tag, a rationally designed epitope tag that serves a remarkably broad spectrum of applications in life sciences while outperforming established tags like the HA-, FLAG®- or myc-tag. The ALFA-tag forms a small and stable α-helix that is functional irrespective of its position on the target protein in prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts. We characterize a nanobody (NbALFA) binding ALFA-tagged proteins from native or fixed specimen with low picomolar affinity. It is ideally suited for super-resolution microscopy, immunoprecipitations and Western blotting, and also allows in vivo detection of proteins. We show the crystal structure of the complex that enabled us to design a nanobody mutant (NbALFAPE) that permits efficient one-step purifications of native ALFA-tagged proteins, complexes and even entire living cells using peptide elution under physiological conditions.</p>}}, author = {{Götzke, Hansjörg and Kilisch, Markus and Martínez-Carranza, Markel and Sograte-Idrissi, Shama and Rajavel, Abirami and Schlichthaerle, Thomas and Engels, Niklas and Jungmann, Ralf and Stenmark, Pål and Opazo, Felipe and Frey, Steffen}}, issn = {{2041-1723}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{09}}, publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}}, series = {{Nature Communications}}, title = {{The ALFA-tag is a highly versatile tool for nanobody-based bioscience applications}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12301-7}}, doi = {{10.1038/s41467-019-12301-7}}, volume = {{10}}, year = {{2019}}, }