Epitope tags are useful for the labeling and detection of proteins using immunoblotting, immunoprecipitation and immunostaining techniques. Due to their small size, they are unlikely to affect the tagged protein's biochemical properties. The DYKDDDDK peptide has been used extensively as a general epitope tag in expression vectors. This peptide can be expressed and detected with the protein of interest as an amino-terminal or carboxy-terminal fusion.
