Peanut agglutinin binds preferentially to the T-antigen, a galactosyl (β-1,3) N-acetylgalactosamine structure present in many glycoconjugates such as M and N blood groups, gangliosides, and many other soluble and membrane-associated glycoproteins and glycolipids. With certain exceptions, the receptor sequence for PNA is normally sialylated which prevents the lectin from binding to its receptor oligosaccharide (see Jacalin). Even sialic acid which is not bound directly to the receptor sugars may inhibit binding. The presence of calcium ions in diluents can enhance the binding of PNA to receptors, possibly by neutralizing the negative charges on sialic acid residues adjacent to the receptor sequence.

Cy3 labeled Peanut agglutinin has an appropriate number of fluorochromes bound to provide the optimum staining characteristics for this lectin. This conjugate is supplied essentially free of unconjugated fluorochromes.

• Excitation: 552 nm
• Emission: 565 nm
• Color: Red

Peanut agglutinin binds preferentially to the T-antigen, a galactosyl (β-1,3) N-acetylgalactosamine structure present in many glycoconjugates such as M and N blood groups, gangliosides, and many other soluble and membrane-associated glycoproteins and glycolipids. With certain exceptions, the receptor sequence for PNA is normally sialylated which prevents the lectin from binding to its receptor oligosaccharide (see Jacalin). Even sialic acid which is not bound directly to the receptor sugars may inhibit binding. The presence of calcium ions in diluents can enhance the binding of PNA to receptors, possibly by neutralizing the negative charges on sialic acid residues adjacent to the receptor sequence.

Cy5 labeled Peanut agglutinin has an appropriate number of fluorochromes bound to provide the optimum staining characteristics for this lectin. This conjugate is supplied essentially free of unconjugated fluorochromes.

• Excitation:  650 nm
• Emission:  670 nm
• Color:  Far Red

Sambucus nigra lectin, isolated from elderberry bark, binds preferentially to sialic acid attached to terminal galactose in α-2,6 and to a lesser degree, α-2,3 linkage. Binding is also inhibited to some extent by lactose or galactose. This lectin appears to bind sialic acid linked to N-acetylgalactosamine or galactose. SNA has been reported to inhibit cell-free protein synthesis.

Cy5 labeled Sambucus nigra lectin has an appropriate number of fluorochromes bound to provide the optimum staining characteristics for this lectin. This conjugate is supplied essentially free of unconjugated fluorochromes. 

• Excitation:  650 nm
• Emission:  670 nm
• Color:  Far Red

GSL I-B₄ isolectin contains only the B subunits. It is a useful marker for endothelial cells from nonprimates such as mouse, rat, rabbit, and goat as well as a marker for non-peptidergic unmyelinated primary afferent neurons.  This “B”-rich lectin preferentially agglutinates blood group B cells and is specific for α-galactose residues. 

DyLight^® 649 GSL I-B₄ isolectin is produced by using special conjugation procedures to incorporate DyLight^® 649 into our affinity-purified lectin. This conjugate has an appropriate number of fluorochromes bound which provide the maximum fluorescence and optimum staining characteristics for this particular lectin. This reagent is supplied essentially free of unconjugated fluorochromes and inactive lectin.

• Excitation maximum:  646 nm
• emission maximum:  674 nm
• Color:  Red

GSL I is a family of glycoproteins with molecular weights of approximately 114 kDa. There are two types of subunits, termed A and B, with slightly different molecular weights. These subunits combine to form tetrameric structures, resulting in five isolectins. The A -rich lectin preferentially agglutinates blood group A erythrocytes and thus appears to be specific for α-N-acetylgalactosamine residues, while the B -rich lectin preferentially agglutinates blood group B cells and is specific for α-galactose residues. Our GSL I is a mixture of the five isolectins. GSL I has been reported to bind several glycoproteins including laminin.

Accompanying each fluorescent lectin is an analysis data sheet summarizing the results of our quality control tests and providing pertinent information on the product. All of these reagents are supplied as solutions preserved with sodium azide.

Inhibiting Sugar: 500 mM galactose or 100 mM raffinose

R.T.U. Animal Free Blocker and Diluent is a ready-to-use solution designed to be used as an antibody diluent and a blocking reagent to stabilize diluted antibody solutions and diminish background due to non-specific binding in immunohistochemical applications. This product contains no animal-derived proteins. The R.T.U. Animal Free Blocker and Diluent is especially convenient in multiplex IHC (multiple antigen labeling) applications where antibodies from several different species are used. 

This plant protein derived product is a universal antibody diluent and blocking reagent intended for cell and tissue based immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescent (IF) applications. This ready-to-use solution can be used as an alternative to normal sera, BSA, casein and non-fat dry milk in methods where these or other blocking agents have been found to be ineffective.

It is supplied without any sodium azide, and as such, can be used with both peroxidase and alkaline phosphatase antibody conjugates and all secondary detection reagents including polymer systems and avidin/biotin reagents that incorporate these enzymes. 

Importantly, this is a different formulation than our concentrated (5x) animal free blocker, due to the optimized conditions and neutral pH of the solution for IHC and IF methods. 

VectaCell Trolox is an antifading additive for live cell imaging. It is a stock solution of the antioxidant Trolox (6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid) in filtered ethanol. Trolox is a water-soluble and cell-permeable analog of vitamin E that efficiently prevents formation of various reactive oxygen species, such as singlet oxygen (¹O₂), superoxide anion (O₂^–) or hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂).

VectaCell Trolox contains both Trolox and its oxidized form Trolox-quinone. This system reduces photo-bleaching and blinking during live cell imaging,^{1, 2} and has also been shown to have a cytoprotective effect and low cytotoxicity for different cell lines.³

Trolox has been used to reduce fluorophore bleaching¹ as well as the fluorophore blinking² during the observation of fluorescent labels. Although the mechanism is not completely understood, it has been attributed to the combination of its oxygen-scavenger capacity that prevents oxidative bleaching and the complementary reduction reaction that helps prevent blinking.

VectaCell Trolox is supplied as a convenient 100 mM stock solution.

References:

1. Rasnik et al. Nonblinking and long-lasting single-molecule fourorescence imaging. (2006) Nat. Meth. 3:891-893
2. Cordes et al. On the Mechanism of Trolox as Antiblinking and Antibleaching Reagent. (2009) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131:5018-5019
3. Wu et al. The cytoprotective effect of Trolox demonstrated with three types of human cells. (1990) Biochem. Cell Biol. 68: 1189-1194