ABSTRACT
The best combined use of gel electrophoresis and immunostaining for imaging purposes is the technique known as “western blotting”. In western blotting, as with all other forms of blotting, there is an initial electrophoresis technique, followed by steps that allow imaging of the products in a specific way. A technique for identifying specific DNA sequences that also used electrophoresis was developed by Edwin Southern and became known as the “Southern blot.” Strong resistance kept any technique from gaining the term “eastern blot” for many years, but by 2001 it had been adapted for a technique that imaged post-translational modification of proteins by a somewhat large community. Finally, the imaging technique of choice is applied, either the induction of fluorescence, or detection of radioactivity, or chemical imaging in the case of horseradish peroxidase or other similar imaging enzymes.
