Did you know VHH Nanobodies can be used for structural studies?
 |
Over the past few years Allele Biotech has offered products and services related to VHH nano-antibodies, which are antibodies derived from Llamas. These single domain antibodies display a wide array of useful properties, they are generally very small (~10 – 15 KD), very stable (they can withstand extreme temperatures and pH conditions) and they possess excellent biding affinity and specificity. Through our product offering we have shown these antibodies to be a superior choice for binding proteins like GFP for immunoprecipitation and ChiP, below we will describe some publications harnessing VHH antibodies for structural studies.
In the publication “SbsB structure and lattice reconstruction unveil Ca21triggered S-layer assembly” nanobodies are used to promote the crystallization of bacterial semipermeable protein layers. As a result of this researchers were able to report the X-ray crystallography structures of these layers which revealed a number of previously unknown structural elements.
Another example of VHH nanobodies helping to elucidate structural details is exhibited in the publication “Structure of a nanobody-stabilized active state of the b2 adrenoceptor.” In this paper scientist used a VHH antibody that bound G protein coupled receptors to mimic a “bound” activated state. This increased the receptor stability and allowed for the analysis of the active state crystal structure.
Lastly, the publication “Crystal structure of the b2 adrenergic receptor–Gs protein complex” (published by the same group as ‘Structure of a nanobody-stabilized active state of the b2 adrenoceptor’) describes how researchers used VHH antibodies to report the ‘first high-resolution view of transmembrane signaling by a GPCR’.
Camelid derived VHH nanobodies are a robust tool for research, whether it be immunoprecipitation, structural elucidation, or countless other applications. We offer custom VHH generation services to generate antibodies against your target of interest. Contact info@allelebiotech.com for more information regarding our VHH nanobody products and services.