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Dual-Functional-Tag-Facilitated Protein Labeling And Immobilization, Xinyi Zhang, Wei Lu, Kevin Kwan, Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Yinan Wei

Chemistry Faculty Publications

An important strategy in the construction of biomimetic membranes and devices is to use natural proteins as the functional components for incorporation in a polymeric or nanocomposite matrix. Toward this goal, an important step is to immobilize proteins with high efficiency and precision without disrupting the protein function. Here, we developed a dual-functional tag containing histidine and the non-natural amino acid azidohomoalanine (AHA). AHA is metabolically incorporated into the protein, taking advantage of the Met-tRNA and Met-tRNA synthetase. Histidine in the tag can facilitate metal-affinity purification, whereas AHA can react with an alkyne-functionalized probe or surface via well-established click chemistry. …