GFP-Traps®, Chromobodies®, boosters and more!

What is a nanobody?

Learn About Nanobody Technology like:

Recombinant technology has changed the game in antibody production!

Nanobodies are tiny, recombinantly produced antigen binding VHH fragments, derived from the Alpaca heavy chain IgG antibody (HCAb).

Ig Forms
When compared to traditional monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies, nanobodies are:
  • Smaller
  • More consistent
  • Higher affinity
  • Easier to use

Nanobodies are offered in a variety of formats, including Nano-Traps, Nano-Boosters, and Chromobodies® .

ChromoTek nanobodies have many superior performance characteristics:

Characteristic Monoclonal Antibody Poylclonal Antibody Nanobody
Size ~150 kDa unconjugated (IgG) ~150 kDa unconjugated (IgG) Only ~15 kDa unconjugated
Binding Affinity Medium to High
(nM - μM Kd values)
Low to Medium
(μM Kd values)
Consistently High
(pM - nM Kd values)
Lot-to-Lot Consistency High - Hybridoma cell line production can suffer from "drift" Very Low - Produced in live animals - significant variance between lots and bleeds Very High - Recombinantly produced from clonal DNA - same product every time!

How can I use a nanobody?

In short, nearly any way you please!

Nanobodies come in a variety of formats. They are raised against a fairly diverse range of antigens, and are thus highly versatile tools, capable of being employed in a variety of different situations.

The most common uses for a nanobody are experiments that you are likely already familiar with, like immunoprecipitation, or fluorescence microscopy.

There are also a handful of applications where use of a nanobody is feasible, but use of a conventional antibody would be impractical or impossible.

ChromoTek nanobodies are highly versatile reagents:

Application ChromoTek product Advantages
Immunoprecipitation Nano-Traps Faster, cleaner, more consistent IPs without heavy & light chain contamination
Live Cell Imaging Chromobodies® Immunolabel intracellular structures in live cells simply and efficiently
Fluorescent Protein Enhancement Nano-Boosters Reactivate dead fluorescent proteins, or enhance the brightness & photostability of GFP or RFP

What is a Nano-Trap?

Nano-Traps are nanobodies that have been conjugated to agarose or magnetic beads to facilitate cleaner, faster, simpler immunoprecipitations.

Nano-Traps are available in a variety of formats, and target a variety of common tags, including Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), Red Fluorescent protein (RFP), Myc, GST, & MBP.

Nano-Traps are also available for DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt-1), p53, and PARP-1 for immunoprecipitation of untagged, endogenously expressed protein

Ig Forms

Three forms of Nano-Traps

Nano-Traps available at antibodies-online:

Antigen (M)-Type Nano-Trap (A)-Type Nano-Trap (MA)-Type Nano-Trap
Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)* ABIN509401 ABIN509397 ABIN1889488
Red Fluorescent Protein (RFP)** ABIN509412 ABIN509408 ABIN2452223
DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) Please Inquire ABIN1082205 Please Inquire
Myc Please Inquire ABIN2559732 Please Inquire
Glutathione S-transferase (GST) ABIN1082190 ABIN2656273 Please Inquire
Maltose Binding Protein(MBP) Please Inquire ABIN2870876 Please Inquire
p53 (N-terminal Epitope) Please Inquire ABIN1889478 Please Inquire
p53 (C-terminal Epitope) Please Inquire ABIN2870874 Please Inquire
Poly ADP-Ribose Polymerase (PARP1) Please Inquire ABIN2870878 Please Inquire

* GFP-traps will also recognize most GFP-derivatives, like eGFP and YFP

** RFP-traps will also recognize most Discosoma based RFP derivatives, like dsRed and mCherry

What is a Nano-Booster?

Nano-Boosters use the power of the nanobody to enhance, modulate, or reactivate weak fluorescent signal from a fluorescent protein.

A Nano-Booster is composed of a nanobody, targeting GFP or RFP, and conjugated to an ultra-bright ATTO dye.

Enhanced GFP signal with the ATTO-488 GFP-booster

antibodies-online offers the following Nano-Boosters:

Conjugate Dye GFP-Booster RFP-Booster
ATTO-488 ABIN509419 ABIN2452220
ATTO-594 ABIN2452219 ABIN1082216
ATTO-647N ABIN2870880 ABIN2745402
Abberior STAR 635N ABIN2870918 Please Inquire

What is a Chromobody®?

Chromobodies® are novel tools for live-cell intracellular fluorescent labeling.

Chromobodies® are fusion proteins that contain both a nanobody targeting your protein of interest, and a bright, photostable fluorescent protein.

Because nanobodies are produced from recombinant DNA, you can generate Chromobodies® directly, right inside the cell you want to label. No fussing with messy, frustrating, or time consuming fixation or labeling protocols!

Simply start with the appropriate Chromobody® plasmid, transfect it into a compatible cell line, and utilize persistent, intracellular immunolabeling in live cells!

Actin Chromobody Staining Example

Chromobody® plasmids are available for the following targets:

Antigen Subcellular Localization ABIN
Actin Cytosol ABIN1478361
Lamin Nuclear Envelope ABIN1478367
Poly ADP-Ribose Polymerase 1(PARP1) Nucleus, Mitochondria ABIN2745398
Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) Nucleus ABIN1478363
DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt-1) Nucleus ABIN1478365
Vimentin Cytosol ABIN3071447