Immunoblotting with Peptide Antibodies: Differential Immunoreactivities Caused by Certain Amino Acid Substitutions in a Short Peptide and Possible Effects of Differential Refolding of the Peptide on a Nitrocellulose or PVDF Membrane

Abstract

Immunodetection using antibodies, e.g., Western blotting, is generally utilized to measure the amount of a certain protein in a protein mixture. For valid interpretation of results observed by immunodetection, strict attention must be paid to the factors affecting the immunoreactivities of the antibodies. We here describe the step-by-step procedures to demonstrate that substitution of certain amino acids in a peptide can cause remarkable differences in its immunoreactivity with antibodies against epitope tags in the immobilized peptide. Refolding of the peptide on the membrane in a way that masks the epitope to different degrees was the possible reason for their distinct immunoreactivities with the antibodies. The results in this chapter suggest that we need to interpret carefully the experimental results involving immunodetection.