Abstract
We describe here a simple method of staining nitrocellulose/PVDF blots by Alta. This red-colored stain which is used as a cosmetic contains Crocein scarlet and Rhodamine B as the principal components. It is very cheap, is available as a ready-to-use liquid, and is as sensitive as the most commonly used stain Ponceau Red S. We further demonstrate that Crocein scarlet (one of the principal components) alone can be used for staining the blots with equal efficiency as well. The stained protein profile can be detected on a white light plate and documented in the usual manner. Detailed analysis indicates that this stain does not interfere with subsequent immunoreactions. Moreover, Alta is almost 100 times cheaper to the routinely used stain Ponceau Red S, and thus is an ideal alternative to the Ponceau Red S for staining blots during western blot analysis.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Pal JK, Sarkar A, Katoch B (2001) Detergent-mediated destaining of Coomassie brilliant blue-stained SDS polyacrylamide gels. Indian J Exp Biol 39:95–97
Kurien BT, Scofield RH (1998) Heat mediated quick Coomassie blue protein staining and destaining of SDS PAGE gels. Indian J Biochem Biophys 35:385–389
Merril CR, Goldman D, Sedman SA et al (1981) Ultrasensitive stain for proteins in polyacrylamide gels shows regional variation in cerebrospinal fluid proteins. Science 211:1437–1438
Wu W, Welsh MJ (1996) Rapid Coomassie blue staining and destaining of polyacrylamide gels. Biotechniques 20:386–388
Wu M, Stockley PG, Martin WJ II (2002) An improved Western blotting technique effectively reduces background. Electrophoresis 23:2373–2376
Antharavally BS, Carter B, Bell PA et al (2004) A high-affinity reversible protein stain for Western blots. Anal Biochem 329:276–280
Steinberg TH (2009) Protein gel staining methods: an introduction and overview. Methods Enzymol 463:541–563
Pal JK, Godbole D, Sharma K (2004) Staining of proteins on SDS polyacrylamide gels and on nitrocellulose membranes by Alta, a colour used as a cosmetic. J Biochem Biophys Methods 61:339–347
Pal JK, Godbole D, Sharma K (2010) Method of staining of proteins using Alta. United States Patent US 7,833,797 B2 (Nov. 16, 2010)
Pal JK, Berwal SK, Soni RN (2012) A single step simultaneous protein staining procedure for polyacrylamide gels and nitrocellulose membranes by Alta during western blot analysis. In: Kurien BT, Scofield RH (eds) Protein electrophoresis: methods and protocols, vol 869, Methods in molecular biology. Springer, New York, pp 551–559
Bradford MM (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem 72:248–254
Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 227:680–685
Towbin H, Staehelin T, Gordon J (1979) Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 76:4350–4354
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by a research grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, under the DST PURSE Program, and the Department Research and Development grant of the Savitribai Phule Pune University.
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
Pal, J.K., Rao, S.J., Godbole, D.J. (2015). Detection of Blotted Proteins on Nitrocellulose/PVDF Membranes by Alta. In: Kurien, B., Scofield, R. (eds) Detection of Blotted Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1314. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2718-0_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2718-0_29
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2717-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2718-0
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols