I was wondering if there was a standard amount of BSA that one might add to an enzyme reaction or if there is a range one has to test out to find out if there are any improvements to enzyme activity. I've seen 0.1 mg/mL pop up in papers a bit.
Also is better to refer to it as a percentage or , for instance, a mg/mL amount?
BSA is often added as a carrier or blocking agent to avoid loss of enzyme activity due to the enzyme stocking to surfaces. Proteins differ in their susceptibility to this problem, and the type of surface in which the reaction occurs also makes a difference, so the amount of BSA needed depends on the circumstances.
I personally prefer to use sub-micellar concentrations of non-ionic detergents (usually 0.01% Triton X-100) rather than BSA, because BSA can bind up inhibitors whose potency I am trying to measure. Nonionic detergents are very good at blocking protein binding to the polystyrene surfaces of microplates.
You can use either % (g/100 ml) or mg/ml, since they are easily interconverted.
Could you please clarify the context for use of BSA? The concentration of BSA referred in mg/ml is okay as amount of BSA is often small.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Papers