HA-tag

The hemagglutinin (HA) tag is a 9-amino acid long peptide corresponding to residues 98-106 of the human influenza HA molecule, an ~63kDa surface glycoprotein required for the infectivity of the human virus. The HA tag has been extensively used as an epitope tag in expression vectors and facilitates the detection, isolation, and purification of proteins. Many recombinant proteins have been fused to the HA tag as it does not appear to interfere with the protein’s bioactivity or biodistribution.

As there are several valuable, commercially available monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, adding an HA tag to a protein of interest is useful for obtaining rapid  information regarding its localization, expression, or biological function¹.

Anti-HA antibodies can also be immobilized on agarose beads for protein purification. However, it is not recommended to use HA-tags for proteins deriving from apoptotic cells as the HA-tag can be cleaved by Caspases 3 and 7, which results in loss of immunoreactivity.

For further information, see our guide to fusion tags.

Applications

Our HA-tag antibodies, proteins, and ELISA kits are validated for use in various applications including western blot, immunoprecipitation, immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and flow cytometry.

​	ab9110 staining HA-tagged proteins in HeLa cells by ICC/IF (Immunocytochemistry/immunoflurescence). Cells were fixed with paraformaldehyde, permeabilized with 0.1% saponin and blocked with 3% serum for 30 min at 37°C. Samples were incubated with primary antibody (2 µg/ml) in 1x PBS for 1 h at 37°C. An Alexa Fluor® 488-conjugated Goat polyclonal to rabbit was used as secondary antibody.
Immunocytochemistry/ Immunofluorescence - Anti-HA tag antibody - ChIP Grade (ab9110) This image is courtesy of an Abreview
	ab9110 at a 1/200 dilution staining the mouse olineu cell line (oligodendrocyte precursor cell) by immunocytochemistry. The antibody was incubated with the cells for 30 min and then detected using a Cy5 conjugated goat anti-rabbit antibody. This image is courtesy of an Abreview submitted by Katarina Trajkovic on 15 March 2006
Immunocytochemistry/ Immunofluorescence - Anti-HA tag antibody - ChIP Grade (ab9110)

Product recommendations for your research

View all HA-tag products.

References

1. Weidong, Z. and Méresse, S. A Method to Introduce an Internal Tag Sequence into a Salmonella Chromosomal Gene Methods in Molecular Biology 1225 pages 81-92 (2014)