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The HA tag is cleaved and loses immunoreactivity during apoptosis

Nature Methods volume 4, pages 107–108 (2007)Cite this article

To the editor: Since its introduction almost 20 years ago as a short immunoreactive tag1, the hemagglutinin epitope YPYDVPDYA (HA tag) from the influenza virus A, has been extensively used in various experimental contexts of cell biology and biochemistry to track proteins of interest within cells, to isolate them and to coprecipitate their possible partners. This holds particularly true in the field of apoptosis, where the ever-increasing number of candidates participating in apoptosis signaling pathways has prompted the community to most often rely on engineered tags—such as the HA tag—rather than embarking on the risky development of specific antibodies. As an illustration, a simple full-text search “HA tag” and “apoptosis” in the Highwire press database (http://www.highwire.org) yields over 200 publications only for the past 12 months.

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Figure 1: The HA tag is cleaved by caspase 3/7.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSERM E347, Institut Bergonié, 229 Cours de l'Argonne, Bordeaux, 33076, France

    Laura Schembri, Renee Dalibart, Flora Tomasello, François Ichas & Francesca De Giorgi

  2. CNRS UMR5164, Université Bordeaux 2, 146 rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux, 33076, France

    Patrick Legembre

Authors
  1. Laura Schembri
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  2. Renee Dalibart
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  3. Flora Tomasello
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  4. Patrick Legembre
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  5. François Ichas
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  6. Francesca De Giorgi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesca De Giorgi.

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Competing interests

L.S., F.T., F.I. and F.D.G. are authors on a patent application WO, 2005/012913.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1

SNAP-HAGFP signal redistribution during apoptosis.

Supplementary Figure 2

SNAP-HAGFP cleavage occurs early during apoptosis.

Supplementary Figure 3

Active caspase 3 cleaves SNAP-HAGFP.

Supplementary Figure 4

SNAP-mutHAGFP (DVPD of HA replaced by DVPE) is not cleavable and does not react with the anti-HA antibody.

Supplementary Figure 5

HA cleavage occurs irrespective of the nature and the location of the construct.

Supplementary Video 1

Live cell imaging of HA cleavage.

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Schembri, L., Dalibart, R., Tomasello, F. et al. The HA tag is cleaved and loses immunoreactivity during apoptosis. Nat Methods 4, 107–108 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth0207-107

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth0207-107

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