Difference between Nonidet-P40 and Tween20 and TritonX100 - (Mar/20/2009 )

As the title says, what is the difference. I wanna know if it makes a difference which detergent is best for a GST pull down

Nonidet-P40 (octyl phenoxylpolyethoxylethanol) is a detergent good for lysing cells and isolating cytoplasmic proteins. It is not good for nuclear proteins as it is not strong enough to lyse the nuclear membrane.
Tween-20 is a polyoxyethylene surfactant.
Triton X-100 is a polyethylene oxide surfactant.
All three are non-ionic detergents and are good for cell lysis.
Nonidet-P40 (not the same as NP-40) is typically used for GST pulldown.

just as Dr. Teeth said do not confuse Nonidet-40 with NP-40.they are different...

some times when we are making RIPA lysis buffer we can either use 1% of Triton X-100 or 1% NP40....more or less they work the same...these two detergents almost break down everything in Eukaryotic cells....some times Sodium Deoxycholate is added to RIPA to guarantee break down of nuclei.

but Tween 20 is a little milder....it is a very common detergent for washing steps during western blot and ImmunoFluorescence experiments....it is also used for subcellular fractionation as its low amounts can only break down the cell membrane.

NP40=Ipegal from Sigma, just in case you need it.

bob1 on Sun Mar 22 23:53:17 2009 said:

Actually, Nonidet-P40 = IPEGAL

The full name of NP-40 is Tergitol-type NP-40, which is nonylphenoxypolyethoxylethanol

This whole terminology thing is very annoying.

Heh, quite right - however, quite an old thread...

What about using Triton, NP40 or Nondiet P 40 in RIPA for Co-immunoprecipitation...bcoz i heard the usage of 1% triton would detach the protein protein interaction and so in that case Np 40 or Nondiet P40 has to be used!!! has anybody used RIPA for Co-IP? if so which detergent would you recommend?

RIPA stands for Radio Immuno Precipitation Assay - people use(d) it routinely for IP. Different detergents can certainly make a difference, Triton is stronger than NP-40, but I understood that the main detergent in RIPA is nonidet p40. Deoxycholate which is often also included is very strong and I would recommend leaving it out for co-IP.