Protein Blotting by Electroblotting

Abstract

Identification of proteins separated by gel electrophoresis or electricfocusing is often compounded by the small pore size of the gel, which limits penetration by macromolecular probes. Overcoming this problem can be achieved by blotting the proteins onto an adsorbent porous membrane (usually nitrocellulose or diazotized paper), which gives a mirror image of the gel (1). A variety of reagents can be incubated with the membrane specifically to detect and analyze the protein of interest. Antibodies are widely used as detecting reagents, and the procedure is sometimes called Western blotting. However, protein blotting or immunoblotting is the most descriptive.