Your common Western blotting questions, answered.
Western blotting is a widely used analytical technique that can identify one or more specific proteins in a complex mixture of proteins. It is a powerful tool that provides information about the presence, size, and under the right conditions, even the amount of a protein. Though commonly used and often routine in many labs, Western blotting can be source of frustration when it doesn’t work. It involves several steps, each of which needs to be optimized to achieve the best results. The key to the best Westerns is understanding the process. As a leading manufacturer of Western blot imaging systems, we’re here to help. Here are some answers to your most commonly asked Western blotting questions.
What are some of the detection methods used in Western blotting?
Several options are available to detect Western blots, with chemiluminescence is likely the most common. Other means of detection include fluorescence, near-infrared fluorescence, colorimetric, and radioactive.
Explore: Western Blot Imaging Systems
What reagents do you need for Western bloting?
The reagents needed for Western blotting include a range of essential components, such as enhancing buffers, transfer solutions, stripping buffers, and substrates for fluorescent and chemiluminescent detection. Azure is a one-stop shop for Western blotting, offering reagents and imaging systems for detection of proteins on Western blots. Save the graphic below so you can always make sure you have the correct reagents for your next Western blot.
What is chemiluminescent detection?
Chemiluminescent detection is a method of detecting the location of antibodies bound to a Western blot. Chemiluminescent detection relies on an enzyme, either horseradish peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase, bound to an antibody. The enzyme converts a substrate to a product that emits light (chemiluminescence). The light emitted can be detected using a CCD camera or on X-ray film after processing in a darkroom. Developing film can be time consuming, requires access to a dedicated darkroom with appropriate equipment, and necessitates repeated purchase of reagents and single-use film. Digital imaging circumvents the development process altogether and allows labs to leave the darkroom behind. In addition to reducing the waste associated with developing film, digital imaging is more sensitive and provides a larger linear dynamic range than X-ray film. These attributes allow quantitative information to be obtained from Western blots.
What's more sensitive: chemiluminescence or fluorescence?
In general, fluorescent detection can detect picograms of protein while chemiluminescence can detect protein in the femtogram range.
However, sensitivity of detection depends on many things. The ability to detect small amounts of target protein requires a high-quality primary antibody with high affinity and specificity for the target protein. In addition, with CCD cameras, very long exposures are possible to maximize the chance of detecting a low-abundance band but this requires minimizing background “noise” on the Western blot. In addition, different fluorophores have different quantum yields, and some HRP substrates are engineered to increase sensitivity, so the sensitivity of fluorescent detection depends on the specific fluorophore used, and the sensitivity of chemiluminescent detection depends on the substrate used.
Radiance Q chemiluminescent substrate is designed to produce a strong, long-lasting signal for large linear dynamic range and quantitative data
Continue reading: Beginning Chemiluminescent Western Blotting
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What are the advantages of using fluorescent Western blot vs. chemiluminescent Western blot?
1. Fluorescent Western blotting gives you the ability to multiplex. By using different fluorescent dyes with non-overlapping excitation and emission spectra, multiple proteins can be assayed on one blot without needing to strip and re-probe the blot.
2. Fluorescent detection is more quantitative than chemiluminescent detection. Chemiluminescent detection relies on an enzyme (HRP or AP) bound to the antibody. Therefore, the activity of the enzyme can change depending on conditions and as the amount of substrate changes. Fluorescent detection relies on the emission of light from a fluorescent probe bound to the antibody. The fluorescence intensity will only depend on the number of fluorescent molecules present in a given spot.
Is HRP a chemiluminescent substrate?
No! Even though it is an important component of chemiluminescent detection, HRP stands for horseradish peroxidase. HRP is an enzyme that’s isolated from the roots of the horseradish plant. HRP catalyzes the oxidation of substrates, transferring electrons from the substrate to peroxide. In chemiluminescent Western blot detection, HRP is conjugated to an antibody and the location of the antibody on a blot is detected by incubating the blot with a substrate that will produce light after it is oxidized by the HRP enzyme.
What is a chemiluminescence substrate?
Chemiluminescent substrates produce light in the presence of HRP and hydrogen peroxide. An example of a chemiluminescent substrate is luminol. Luminol is oxidized to 3-aminophthalate which emits light (chemiluminescence) that can be detected using a digital imager with a CCD or CMOS camera, or on X-ray film using a darkroom.
We developed the new chemiSOLO to make digital chemiluminescent imaging accessible to every lab. It is a personal Western blot imager that’s able to easily and quickly image chemiluminescent Western blots. It does so without needing a designated laptop of computer. With the chemiSOLO, you can image quantitative Western blots through your own mobile device or tablet. It’s the first imager of its kind on the market! Get a quote for chemiSOLO by clicking here or filling out the form below. Explore all imaging systems from Azure Biosystems.
Additional Western Blotting Resources
- Wet or Dry? Which Transfer is Best for Your Assay?
- App note: How to Improve Your Chemi Blots
- App note: How to Improve Your Fluorescence Blots
- Tips on Transitioning from Chemiluminescence to Fluorescence
- Video: Troubleshooting for Clean Western Blots
- App note: Increasing Assay Efficiency with Four Color Westerns
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