ABfinity™ antibody characteristics include:
- Validation in Western blot
- Superior lot-to-lot consistency
- Extremely high specificity and sensitivity
- Recombinant rabbit monoclonal antibody
Tau protein, also known as microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT), plays an important role in nucleation and stabilization of microtubules by associating with tubulin subunits (Ref 1). The positively-charged C-terminus of tau associates with negatively-charged microtubule. In humans, tau is predominantly expressed in brain and is responsible for neurodegeneration due to misfolding, hyperphosphorylation, and self-assembly into tangles (Ref 2, 3). Six isoforms of tau with varying degrees of affinity to tubulin exist. Numerous serine/threonine kinases, including GSK-3β, protein kinase A (PKA), cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (cdk5), and casein kinase II (CK2) phosphorylate Tau. Phosphorylation of serine 199 is regulated by a number of enzymes. Phosphorylated serine 199 can be dephosphorylated by some protein phosphatases including protein phosphatase 2A and 2B. There are six isoforms of Tau, with varying degrees of affinity for tubulin. The gene encoding Tau is located on chromosome 17 q21, containing 16 exons (Ref 4).
Exceptional Consistency Saves You Time and Money
ABfinity™ antibodies are produced by transfection of mammalian cells with heavy and light chain antibody cDNAs. This provides you with the highest consistency between lots, eliminating the need to revalidate your assays for each lot.
High Specificity Means More Reliable Data
The proprietary recombinant technology employed in the production of ABfinity™ antibodies means you are assured of the greatest degree of reliability. Staining of nonspecific proteins is virtually eliminated while very high sensitivity is achieved. Invitrogen has validated this antibody in Western blotting.
High Sensitivity Lets You Detect Low Levels of Target Protein
ABfinity™ antibodies demonstrate much higher sensitivity than ordinary antibodies. Proteins expressed in low levels can be detected with high specificity allowing you to use less of your precious samples than with ordinary antibodies.
Recombinant Rabbit IgG—Use Like Any Other IgG Antibody
As with traditional IgG antibodies, gel electrophoresis of ABfinity™ antibodies produces a 150 kDa band under non-reducing conditions and 50 kDa and 25 kDa bands under reducing conditions.
For Research Use Only. Not intended for any animal or human therapeutic or diagnostic use.
Related Links:
Learn more about the superior performance of ABfinity™ recombinant monoclonal antibodies
See Invitrogen's full line of ABfinity™ recombinant monoclonal antibodies
References:
- Makrides V, Massie MR, Feinstein SC, Lew J. Evidence for two distinct binding sites for tau on microtubules. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Apr 27;101(17):6746-51. PubMed PMID: 15096589.
- Brunden KR, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM. Advances in tau-focused drug discovery for Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2009 Oct;8(10):783-93. Review. PubMed PMID: 19794442.
- Rissman RA. Stress-induced tau phosphorylation: functional neuroplasticity or neuronal vulnerability? J Alzheimers Dis. 2009;18(2):453-7. Review. PubMed PMID: 19584431.
- Zhou J, Yu Q, Zou T. Alternative splicing of exon 10 in the tau gene as a target for treatment of tauopathies. BMC Neurosci. 2008 Dec 3;9 Suppl 2:S10. Review. PubMed PMID: 19090983.
