Transgenic expression and purification of myosin isoforms using the Drosophila melanogaster indirect flight muscle system.

ABSTRACT: Biophysical and structural studies on muscle myosin rely upon milligram quantities of extremely pure material. However, many biologically interesting myosin isoforms are expressed at levels that are too low for direct purification from primary tissues. Efforts aimed at recombinant expression of functional striated muscle myosin isoforms in bacterial or insect cell culture have largely met with failure, although high level expression in muscle cell culture has recently been achieved at significant expense. We report a novel method for the use of strains of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster genetically engineered to produce histidine-tagged recombinant muscle myosin isoforms. This method takes advantage of the single muscle myosin heavy chain gene within the Drosophila genome, the high l

SUBMITTER: Caldwell JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3308726 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature