Three commonly used affinity tags for protein purification

In order to purify heterologous proteins from various hosts, affinity tags are extremely capable tools. In the recent years affinity tags have become highly popular tools for protein purification mainly due to following reasons. They provide high level of purification of recombinant proteins from crude extracts, mostly in a single step. Second, they provide mild elution conditions, thereby, do not interfere with the structure and hence the function of the purified proteins. In addition, affinity tags allow a variety of proteins to be purified using easy procedures.

            Affinity tags are available as expression vector systems having multiple cloning sites (MCS) for cloning the gene of interest towards the N or C-terminal of the tag. Now-a-days, a variety of affinity tags are available for the purification of recombinant proteins. Each tag has its certain advantages and disadvantages. Here, you will see the properties of the three commonly used affinity tags: His-Tag, GST-Tag and MBP-Tag.

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