The use of peptides for the generation of antibodies against specific peptides has become an essential tool in proteomic research.

 

A crucial step in using peptides as antigens is their coupling to carrier proteins. Peptides are designed to be good epitopes by themselves; however they fail to elicit a strong antibody response. The reason for this is that the epitopes are able to bind to the B-cells, but are too small to contain additional motifs required to associate with class II molecules and T-cell receptors. The carrier proteins, once coupled to the peptides, provide these additional motifs and generate a strong antibody response.

 

The HOOK™ Peptide Coupling kits allow researchers to attach peptides to a carrier protein of choice using either primary amines or sulfhydryls in their peptide. The HOOK™ Peptide Coupling kits are supplied with one of our carrier proteins in convenient single use OneQuant™ format or without a carrier protein. Both kits can be supplied with or without carrier proteins.

The carrier proteins are bovine serum albumin (BSA), keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and HyperCarrier™, a cationized BSA. For further details on the carrier protein properties see the carrier protein section.

 

This kit is designed for the coupling of peptides to carrier proteins, utilizing the primary amines and carboxyl groups of the peptides and carrier proteins. This kit utilizes the chemical heterobifunctional crosslinker EDC (1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride) to couple peptides to carrier proteins. EDC first reacts with the carboxyl groups, producing an amine reactive intermediate, O-acylisourea that rapidly reacts with the amine groups of the peptide/protein.

 

This kit utilizes Tube-O-Reactor^™, which allows for the reactions to be performed in a single tube, with no loss of essential reagents and minimum hands on time and effort.