What are the applications of crosslinking chemistry?

There are several applications of crosslinking chemistry. One of the most used applications for crosslinkers is protein-to-protein conjugation. Such examples of protein-protein conjugation are secondary antibodies used in ELISA, western blotting, and other types of immunodetection methods. These antibody-enzyme conjugates are created by crosslinking purified antibody and enzyme proteins. Additional applications of crosslinking are listed in the bulleted points below:

●       Forming polyacrylamide gels for gel electrophoresis.

●       Stabilizing tertiary and quaternary protein structure for analysis.

●       Capturing and identifying unknown protein interactors or domains.

●       Crosslinking can conjugate an enzyme or tag to an antibody or other purified protein. 

●       Crosslinking can also immobilize antibodies or other proteins for assays or affinity-purification experiments.

●        Crosslinking can attach peptides to larger carrier proteins to enable handling/storage.