Question 1: What is the difference between this kit and BK004P?
Answer 1: Both the BK004P and BK006P are tubulin polymerization kits that are absorbance-based rather than fluorescence-based. The only difference between the two absorbance-based kits is that BK004P uses 97% pure tubulin (remaining 3% are MAPs) while BK006P uses >, 99% pure tubulin. This is an important difference because the presence of MAPs means that tubulin polymerization can be examined in the absence of enhancers such as glycerol or taxol with as little as 3 or 4 mg/ml tubulin using the BK004P kit. In this case MAPs act as polymerization enhancers. With BK006P, an enhancer such as glycerol or taxol must be used to drive tubulin polymerization with concentrations <, 5 mg/ml tubulin. Using tubulin at 5 mg/ml or higher allows for the omission of glycerol or taxol. In some cases, glycerol can interfere with the binding of tubulin accessory proteins or compounds. Assay conditions can easily be altered to test for glycerol interference.
Question 2: Which kit is best for screening a compound/reagent/drµ, g for its effects on tubulin polymerization?
Answer 2: All 3 tubulin polymerization kits (2 absorbance-based kits, BK004P and BK006P, 1 fluorescence-based kit, BK011P) are well-suited for screening of potential tubulin polymerization enhancers and inhibitors. Each kit has its own pros and cons. For initial compound/drµ, g screening, we recommend the absorbance-based tubulin polymerization assay BK004P. This kit uses 97% pure tubulin (remaining 3% are MAPs) while BK006P and BK011P use >, 99% pure tubulin. This is an important difference because the presence of MAPs means that tubulin polymerization can be examined in the absence of enhancers or inhibitors with as little as 3 or 4 mg/ml tubulin using the BK004P kit. To study enhancers, we recommend using 3 mg/ml tubulin, whereas 4 mg/ml tubulin is recommended for inhibitors. In the case of BK004P, MAPs act as polymerization enhancers. With BK006P and BK011P, an enhancer such as glycerol or taxol must be used to drive tubulin polymerization with concentrations <, 5 mg/ml tubulin. Using tubulin at 5 mg/ml or higher allows for the omission of glycerol or taxol, but requires additional tubulin. In some cases, glycerol can interfere with the binding of tubulin accessory proteins or compounds/reagents/drµ, gs. However, since BK011P is fluorescence-based, there is increased sensitivity that allows the researcher to use 1/3 as much tubulin with greater sensitivity. Thus, the kit provides 96 assays versus the 30 assays of BK004P or BK006P, thus BK011P is the most economical when requiring >, 30 assays for the project.
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