TimeSTAMP protein labelling
TimeSTAMP (Time – Specific Tag for the Age Measurement of Proteins) is a technique invented by Michael Z. Lin at the Roger Tsien lab at the University of California, San Diego in 2008. It is a technique that can specifically label the newly synthesized copies of the genetically tagged protein.
Principle of the TimeSTAMP technique[]
The TimeSTAMP technique for labelling newly synthesized proteins of interest and is based on drug–dependent preservation of epitope tags[1]
A simple diagram showing the strategy for drug–dependent epitope tagging of newly synthesized proteins can be found here: [1].
In this technique, a tag that is present on all the proteins that are synthesized after the one-time administration of a small molecule drug. To achieve this goal, specific protease activity is incorporated to confer self–removing behaviour onto an epitope tag. Then, a corresponding protease inhibitor is used in order to block the removal of the tag. As a result, only those proteins synthesized after the application of inhibitor would be tagged.
A subsequent variant of TimeSTAMP allows for drug-dependent preservation of fluorescent protein tags.[2]
Application of TimeSTAMP technique[]
As TimeSTAMP technique can achieve temporally controlled labelling of newly synthesized proteins of interest even in thick tissues or intact animals and provide a sensitive, specific detection, the distribution of newly synthesized protein in a living animal can be studied
References[]
- ^ Lin, M. Z.; Glenn, J. S.; Tsien, R. Y. (2008). "A drug-controllable tag for visualizing newly synthesized proteins in cells and whole animals". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (22): 7744–9. doi:10.1073/pnas.0803060105. PMC 2402386. PMID 18511556.
- ^ Butko, M. T.; Yang, J.; Geng, Y.; Kim, H. J.; Jeon, N. L.; Shu, X.; MacKey, M. R.; Ellisman, M. H.; Tsien, R. Y.; Lin, M. Z. (2012). "Fluorescent and photo-oxidizing TimeSTAMP tags track protein fates in light and electron microscopy". Nature Neuroscience. 15 (12): 1742–51. doi:10.1038/nn.3246. PMC 3509268. PMID 23103964.
External links[]
- Protein methods