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Technique / Proteomics and protein biochemistry / Western blot assay


Western blot protocol



Western blot protocol

Preparation of cell lysates from E.Coli bacteria for western blotting:

1. Spin down 1 ML overnight culture
2. add 100-200 ul BugBuster protein extraction reagent (Novagen cat. No. 70584)
3. Sonicate 1 min
4. add 2x sample buffer to same lysis volume(or add sample buffer directly to the cell pallets)
5. Boiling for 5 min

Preparation of PVDF membrane for the blotting step:

1. Cut a piece of PVDF membrane(Bio-Rad Immun-Blot PVDF Membrane Cat. No. 162-0177)
2. Wet membrane for 30''-60" in Methanol
3. Transfer membrane to 1x Transfer buffer( Life gels LongLife Transfer Buffer 20x Cat.No. BG-168) untill use.

Use precast gels (Ready gel from Lifegels Cat. No.NH21-420 or BioRad cat. No.161-1104) for western blot protein electrophoresis:

1. Assemble gel in gel tank(BioRad Mini-PROTEAN 3 Cell cat. No. 165-3301 165-3302)
2. Load 10-30 ug protein each lane.
3. Use 8-15 ul protein marker.
4. Run at 100V-150V(constant voltage) for 50 min-1.5 hour (use Hepes-Tris running Buffer)

Western blotting membrane Transfer:

1. Prewet the sponge, filter papers(Biorad cat. no.1703932) in 1X Transfer buffer
2. Assemble "sanwich" in BioRad transblot cat no.170-3930 170-3935):
Black (negative charge)-sponges, filter paper-gel-membrane-filter paper-sponge-red (positive charge)
3. Transfer at 200-250 mM(around 100V) for 1-2 hour with cold pack or pre-chilled buffer. Larger protein take longer time to transfer.

4. When blot transferation completed, take membrane out if transfer buffer contain 20% methanol, (or soak in methanol again about 15") let it completely dry in RT.(over 30 min)
5. Wet membrane in methanol 15 seconds, and resin in ddH2O.
6. Add in 5 % Bloking buffer (5 g dry milk, BioRad cat.no.170-6404 in TBS 0.1% tween-20) and block overnight 4C or 1-2 hour RT.

Western blot antibody detection:

1. Incubate with primary antibody diluted in 1% Blocking buffer in TBS-T 0.1% tween-20) for 1-2 hour RT, or overnight @ 4c.
2. Wash blot 3x 10 min with 0.1% Tween 20 in TBS.
3. Incubate blot with Secondary antobody (HRP conjugated anti rabbit or mouse IgG) 1:10000 in 1% Blocking buffer 0.1% Tween-20 TBS for 45min-60min.

4. Wash blot 3 X 10 min with 0.1% Tween-20 in TBS.
5. Detect with Amersham ECL Plus kit (RPN 2132) or other ECL detection kits. Bring ECL plus kit to room temperature. Make solution A:B 40:1 mix. Add 2ml to 1 membrane for 5 min. wrap with film for either film develop or camera picture. Do no let membrane dry.

Western blot stripping protocol:

1. Rinse blot with 0.1% Tween 20 in TBS.
2. Add Strpping buffer 37 C 30 min(Pierce cat.no.21059)
3. Rinse blot with 0.1% Tween 20 in TBS.
4. Start again with membrane blocking step and re-probe with new antibody.

Selected online western blot protocols:

Western blot protocol (University of Washington, Department of Pathology)
Western blotting protocol with reagent and buffer (Frank lab, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation)
Western blot protocol with buffer recipes (Howell lab, UCSD cancer center)

Last update 27-Aug-2006, Rating Good of 8 votes.


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