New Flexible Tool for Cell Surface Receptor Heterodimerization

Cisbio Bioassays has partnered with Promega Corporation to launch HaloTag® for Tag-Lite®. The combination of HaloTag® and HTRF® technologies provides a new, flexible tool for cell surface receptor heterodimerization.

HaloTag® is an orthogonal system for labeling proteins in living cells and in vitro. The HaloTag® protein is a 33 kDa enzyme derivatized from a prokaryotic hydrolase that can be expressed under a tag format at the N- or C-terminus of another protein. As the enzyme is not naturally present in cells, one of its properties enables it to allow for highly specific labeling of expressed fusion proteins by reacting with a chloro alkane substrate. The substrate can be coupled to a fluorophore which will be ultimately transferred onto the HaloTag® moiety, allowing a rapid and targeted covalent conjugation.

Cisbio’s partnership with Promega marks another step in the development of its Tag-lite® platform for cell surface receptor investigation. HaloTag® offers an orthogonal labeling alternative to SNAP- and CLIP-tag®, two protein tag systems already used with Tag-lite®. The combination of SNAP-tag® and HaloTag®, for example, has shown to be suited for investigating receptor heterodimerization in particular.

“We are pleased to partner with an established leader in life sciences reagents such as Promega on the development of new analytical tools that address the emerging concept of receptor heterodimerization,” said François Degorce, director of marketing and communications at Cisbio Bioassays. “For industry and academic researchers who are looking for a simple, rapid and robust technology for cell surface receptor investigation, the combination of the HaloTag® system with Cisbio Bioassays’ technology will supply them with an assay development toolbox that offers greater flexibility and performance.”