The availability of a recombinant anti-SNAP antibody in VHH format amplifies the application flexibility of SNAP-tagged proteins

J Biomed Biotechnol. 2010:2010:658954. doi: 10.1155/2010/658954. Epub 2010 Oct 17.

Abstract

Antibodies are indispensable reagents in basic research, and those raised against tags constitute a useful tool for the evaluation of the biochemistry and biology of novel proteins. In this paper, we describe the isolation and characterization of a single-domain recombinant antibody (VHH) specific for the SNAP-tag, using Twist2 as a test-protein. The antibody was efficient in western blot, immunoprecipitation, immunopurification, and immunofluorescence. The sequence corresponding to the anti-SNAP has been subcloned for large-scale expression in vectors that allow its fusion to either a 6xHis-tag or the Fc domain of rabbit IgG2 taking advantage of a new plasmid that was specifically designed for VHH antibodies. The two different fusion antibodies were compared in immunopurification and immunofluorescence experiments, and the recombinant protein SNAP-Twist2 was accurately identified by the anti-SNAP Fc-VHH construct in the nuclear/nucleolar subcellular compartment. Furthermore, such localization was confirmed by direct Twist2 identification by means of anti-Twisit2 VHH antibodies recovered after panning of the same naïve phage display library used to isolate the anti-SNAP binders. Our successful localization of Twist2 protein using the SNAP-tag-based approach and the anti-Twist2-specific recombinant single-domain antibodies opens new research possibilities in this field.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antibody Specificity
  • Blotting, Western
  • Escherichia coli
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Genetic Vectors
  • HEK293 Cells
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / genetics
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / chemistry*
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / genetics*
  • O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase / chemistry
  • O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase / immunology*
  • O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase / metabolism
  • Peptide Library
  • Rabbits
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / immunology
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Staining and Labeling
  • Twist-Related Protein 1 / immunology

Substances

  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains
  • Peptide Library
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Twist-Related Protein 1
  • O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase