The Protein Man's Blog | A Discussion of Protein Research

Spectrophotometric analysis, also called spectral scanning, of biomolecules serves two main purposes – the quantitation of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and purity assessment. Since the amount or concentration and purity of the DNA or RNA in a solution significantly affect the results of subsequent downstream applications, establishing these values early on can reduce, if not totally eliminate, the risk of committing errors and guarantee optimum results.

Blocking buffers are used to bind the surface areas that may attach to reagents during the testing process and prevent nonspecific antibodies from interacting with reagents. Blockers can also cause poor reading or inaccurate results.

Reporters have contributed significantly to the field of biology and its progress. Genetic reporters are widely used in drug development, biomedical research, and biochemistry. In a nutshell, the reporter gene is fused with the gene of interest and cloned into an expression vector. The expression vector with the chimeric sequence is transferred into suitable cells. The expression of the gene in the cell is measured by the activity of the reporter protein. A textbook good reporter gene should have high sensitivity and can be measured quantitatively after expression.