Review Article

Several Affinity Tags Commonly Used in Chromatographic Purification

Table 1

Common widely used affinity tags for purification of recombinant proteins.

Affinity tagLength (aa)Size (kDa)Matrix

Hexahistidine (6x His)6 (generally)0.84Metal ions (Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Fe3+)
Glutathione S-transferase (GST)21126Glutathione
FLAG81.01Anti-FLAG mAb
Streptavidin-binding peptide (SBP)384.3Streptavidin
Strep II81.06Strep-Tactin (modified streptavidin)
Maltose-binding protein (MBP)39642Amylose
Calmodulin-binding peptide (CBP)262.96Calmodulin
Chitin-binding domain (CBD) 515.59Chitin
S151.75S-protein of RNase A
HA91.1Anti-HA epitope mAb
c-Myc111.2Anti-Myc epitope mAb