MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London
Science for Health
A fluorescent reporter of caspase activity for live imaging
09 September 2008
Jean-Paul Vincent and James Briscoe, from NIMR's Division of Developmental Neurobiology, working with a scientist from the Institute of Cancer Research devised the new sensor. It comprises two fluorophores linked by an efficient and specific caspase-sensitive site. Upon caspase activation, the sensor is cleaved, separating the fluorophores and allowing one of them to translocate to the nucleus. This tool should be generally applicable since it works in Drosophila as well as chick embryos.
Cell death is a key aspect of tissue homeostasis since it removes mis-specified or superfluous cells. We hope that this new tool will help us decipher the mechanisms that allow such cells to be recognised
Jean-Paul Vincent
Original article
The research findings are published in full in:
Pierre-Luc Bardet, Golnar Kolahgar, Anita Mynett, Irene Miguel-Aliaga, James Briscoe, Pascal Meier, and Jean-Paul Vincent.
A fluorescent reporter of caspase activity for live imaging
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Epub ahead of print Publisher abstract
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