Abstract
The lacZ gene product, β-galactosidase, has classically been used as a reporter of gene expression. β-Galactosidase activity can be detected using a chromogenic substrate, X-gal, which leaves an intense blue precipitate when cleaved by the enzyme. Insertion of the lacZ coding DNA targeted into a specific gene creates a β-galactosidase-tagged fusion protein that is expressed under the endogenous promoter. Analysis of the hybrid protein takes advantage of the chromogenic detection system, as the distribution and relative abundance of the expressed protein can be efficiently visualized.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by NIH grant RO1EY019012 and PO1HD023315 to R.Z.
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Cooper, M.A., Zhou, R. (2013). β-Galactosidase Staining of LacZ Fusion Proteins in Whole Tissue Preparations. In: Zhou, R., Mei, L. (eds) Neural Development. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1018. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-444-9_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-444-9_18
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