Rapid and sensitive lentivirus vector-based conditional gene expression assay to monitor and quantify cell fusion activity.

ABSTRACT: Cell-to-cell fusion is involved in multiple fundamental biological processes. Prominent examples include osteoclast and giant cell formation, fertilization and skeletal myogenesis which involve macrophage, sperm-egg and myoblast fusion, respectively. Indeed, the importance of cell fusion is underscored by the wide range of homeostatic as well as pathologic processes in which it plays a key role. Therefore, rapid and sensitive systems to trace and measure cell fusion events in various experimental systems are in demand. Here, we introduce a bipartite cell fusion monitoring system based on a genetic switch responsive to the site-specific recombinase FLP. To allow flexible deployment in both dividing as well as non-dividing cell populations, inducer and reporter modules were incorporated in l

SUBMITTER: Goncalves MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2880594 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature