Streptavidin is a form of avidin produced by Streptomyces avidinii that exhibits somewhat less non-specific binding than egg white avidin, although background staining may still sometimes be a problem. Streptavidin is a homotetrameric protein of approximately 60 kDa composed of four identical subunits of approximately 15 kDa. One molecule of streptavidin binds four molecules of biotin by a non-covalent interaction that is essentially irreversible.
