Heterologous Expression in Endocrine Cells for Analysis of Posttranslational Modifications

Abstract

An attractive way of analyzing posttranslational modifications and the biological significance of these during biosynthesis, is by heterologous expression of a gene product in model cell systems. A large number of expression systems have been developed to facilitate gene transfer into cells from a wide range of species, ranging from bacteria, fungi, and insect cells to mammalian cells. Such systems have been described in details elsewhere, including in this series (1), and in many cases, developed expression systems can be purchased commercially. Each have their advantages and drawbacks, and it follows that the first step in obtaining heterologous expression is to have a clear strategy and object with the experiment to ensure that the expression system is useful to address the particular question. Hence, the cell types of choice in expression experiments depend on the type of posttranslational modification in question.