How to detect membrane proteins on Western blot?

Cell membrane proteins represent important targets for human drug development, and are also indispensable for critical activities in plant cells, like nutrient and water transport, energy production and stress response.

As membrane proteins are often more difficult to analyze, compared to soluble proteins, there are some important points to keep in mind when working with them. Below is a list of three things to remember for membrane proteins.

Check the abundance of the analyzed membrane protein in the PAX data base. The lower the abundance, the more material is going to be required for extraction, and the higher protein load/well of membrane fraction is needed to be applied.
Include speficic detergents like Triton X-100, NP-40, and CHAPS.
Choose a suitable gel for electrophoretic protein separation.

Read an interview with experts on Western blot detection of membrane proteins, conducted by Biocompare, here.

Check out Agrisera's collection of protocols and references for extraction of plant and algal soluble and membrane proteins.

How to detect membrane proteins on Western blot?

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