TY - JOUR T1 - Protein visualization and manipulation in through the use of epitope tags recognized by nanobodies JF - Elife Y1 - 2022 A1 - Xu, Jun A1 - Kim, Ah-Ram A1 - Cheloha, Ross W A1 - Fischer, Fabian A A1 - Li, Joshua Shing Shun A1 - Feng, Yuan A1 - Stoneburner, Emily A1 - Binari, Richard A1 - Mohr, Stephanie E A1 - Zirin, Jonathan A1 - Ploegh, Hidde L A1 - Perrimon, Norbert AB - Expansion of the available repertoire of reagents for visualization and manipulation of proteins will help understand their function. Short epitope tags linked to proteins of interest and recognized by existing binders such as nanobodies facilitate protein studies by obviating the need to isolate new antibodies directed against them. Nanobodies have several advantages over conventional antibodies, as they can be expressed and used as tools for visualization and manipulation of proteins in vivo. Here, we characterize two short (<15 aa) NanoTag epitopes, 127D01 and VHH05, and their corresponding high-affinity nanobodies. We demonstrate their use in Drosophila for in vivo protein detection and re-localization, direct and indirect immunofluorescence, immunoblotting, and immunoprecipitation. We further show that CRISPR-mediated gene targeting provides a straightforward approach to tagging endogenous proteins with the NanoTags. Single copies of the NanoTags, regardless of their location, suffice for detection. This versatile and validated toolbox of tags and nanobodies will serve as a resource for a wide array of applications, including functional studies in Drosophila and beyond. VL - 11 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35076390?dopt=Abstract ER -