Practice question

Eastern blotting represents a specialized extension of Western blotting focused on characterizing post-translational modifications rather than polypeptide abundance alone. Proteins are first separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to membrane, then probed with agents that recognize covalent adducts such as carbohydrates, lipids, or phosphate groups. Lectins, streptavidin conjugates, or modification-specific antibodies detect glycosylation, lipoylation, myristoylation, and phosphorylation events. These modifications critically regulate folding, trafficking, enzymatic activity, and signaling, making Eastern blotting essential for diagnostic biomarker validation and quality assessment of recombinant therapeutic glycoproteins.