Glutathione has been covalently linked for use in affinity purification of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and GST fusion proteins.

Bialaphos is a tripeptide antibiotic that is used in transformation experiments of many species of plants that make use of the bar gene for selection. In corn, it is more effective than glufosinate. In wheat, bialaphos was the most reliable selection criteria used to identify bar transformed plants.

Once introduced into a nonresistant plant cell, bialaphos is hydrolyzed and converted to phosphinothricin through the phosphinothricin acetyl transferase enzyme. Phosphinothricin is toxic within plants, causing ammonia to build up, which inhibits glutamine synthetase.

This broad-spectrum herbicide also has effectiveness against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, as well as certain fungal plant pathogens.

Vancomycin hydrochloride is a member of the glycopeptide antibiotic class derived from Streptomyces orientalis. It is effective against gram-positive bacteria and used in studies of antibiotic resistance bacteria and nanoparticle transport studies. Exhibiting low toxicity to plants, vancomycin is suitable for plant selection and prevention of bacterial contamination in plant cell culture applications.

Macerozyme R-10 is a macerating enzyme from the Rhizopus sp. which is perfectly suited for the isolation of plant cells. Macerozyme R-10 is often used in combination with Cellulase "Onozuka R-10" in the isolation of plant protoplasts.

Cefotaxime is a third generation, broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic effective against various gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. However, unlike many other cephalosporins, cefotaxime is not effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. Cefotaxime is often used in Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformations to regulate bacterial growth. It has been shown to exhibit a synergistic effect with Vancomycin in certain conditions.

Leupeptin hemisulfate (Ac-Leu-Leu-argininal) is a reversible inhibitor of serine and cysteine endopeptidases. Leupeptin hemisulfate is capable of inhibiting plasmin, trypsin, papain, kallikrein, calpain and cathepsin B. Leupeptin is usually used in a concentration range of 10 to 100μM. Leupeptin is widely used in many protease inhibitor cocktails due to its potency, low toxicity, and range of inhibition. Leupeptin is also used in a quantitative assay to measure macroautophagic flux in mammals and is being investigated for its use in treating malaria.

Streptomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic primarily effective against gram-negative bacteria and Mycobacterium species. It is commonly used in cell culture media to prevent bacterial contamination. It has also been used to precipitate nucleic acids during protein purification techniques and to study mechanisms of Streptomycin resistance.

Biotin can be used in cell culture media for its involvement in a number of cellular processes including gluconeogenesis, synthesis of fatty acids, and amino acids isoleucine and valine.

D-Biotin, also known as vitamin H or coenzyme R is a water-soluble member of the B vitamins (B7).

Puromycin is an aminonucleoside antibiotic that causes early chain termination within the ribosome during translation. This inhibition of translation is effective in both in vivo and in vitro applications, making it an ideal tool for protein synthesis studies. While selection for E. coli cells is possible with puromycin, it is more commonly and effectively used for mammalian cell selection.

The growth of bacteria, protozoa, algae and mammalian cells is quickly halted by puromycin. However, cells with the pac gene have resistance. Its gene product is puromycin-N-acetyl-transferase which inactivates puromycin through acetylation.

Research has shown puromycin to be effective against certain tumors.

Cycloheximide is a protein synthesis inhibitor in eukaryotic cells. It prevents ribosomal mRNA translocation during protein translation. Cycloheximide has a variety of applications. It can be used to study cellular processes and to determine the half-life of a protein using western blotting techniques of protein cell lysate. It has been used to select for CHX-resistant strains of yeast and fungi. It also displays neuroprotective properties. Additionally, Cycloheximide has been used to inhibit yeast growth at concentrations of 200μM. It has been used to promote production of ethylene in leaves and fruit.

Cycloheximide is reserved for in vitro applications due to its high toxicity.

Pepstatin A is a competitive, reversible aspartic protease inhibitor and inhibits proteases such as pepsin, chyomsin, renin, HIV proteases, and cathepsins D and E. Peptstatin A is highly selective and is often used in a mixture with other enzyme inhibitors. In vitro studies have shown pepstatin A is the only aspartic acid inhibitor that exhibits inhibitory effects on HIV proteases.

Pepstatin A is effective at inhibiting most affected proteases at a concentration of 1μM, but can inhibit pepsin at the picomolar range of concentrations. It is believed to function by way of a collected-substrate inhibition mechanism. Pepstatin A may also suppress differentiation of osteoclasts by inhibiting phosphorylation of MAP kinase and inhibiting NFATc1 expression.

RNase A, isolated from bovine pancreas, degrades single-stranded RNA at the C and U residues; therefore, RNase A is pyrimidine specific. Degradation occurs by cleaving the phosphodiester bond located between the 5’-ribose of the nucleotide and the phosphate group that is connected to the 3’-ribose of the neighboring pyrimidine.