ELECTRO-BLOTTING OF ELECTROPHORETICALLY RESOLVED FLUORESCENT-LABELED SACCHARIDES AND DETECTION OF ACTIVE STRUCTURES WITH PROTEIN PROBES

摘要

Saccharide in mixtures are separated into groups or individual saccharides and tested for their affinity for particular proteins. The method of the invention is carried out by conjugating saccharides in a mixture with charge-generating moieties and moieties capable of fluorescing such as 4-amino-1-naphthalene sulfonic acid (ANSA) to form conjugates. The saccharide conjugates are subjected to electrophoretic resolution within gels. The resolved bands of material can be seen under ultraviolet light and are electro-blotted onto charged nylon membranes to provide a stable record of the electrophoretic separation. The blots (visible under ultraviolet light) on the nylon membranes are brought into contact with particular proteins in order to determine the binding affinity of these particular proteins to particular saccharides on the nylon membrane. The proteins are preferably bound to labels so that the binding of the proteins to the saccharides can be easily detected.