This technology is an engineered antibody used for the detection of Cre recombinase protein.
Cre recombinase is a commonly used enzyme that utilizes a site-specific mechanism to alter the DNA sequence of genes and to modify gene expression. Current approaches used to visualize site-specific recombination of DNA rely on Cre-inducible reporter models to serve as a proxy for Cre activity. However, the expression pattern from reporters do not faithfully capture dynamic expression of Cre. This leads to ambiguity whether a tissue or cell of interest that is labeled by the reporter is indeed expressing Cre recombinase at a particular moment, and whether it can be successfully targeted using Cre-dependent reagents. Therefore, a reliable method to confirm the presence or absence of Cre protein upon Cre-mediated recombination is needed. While anti-Cre antibodies, often poly-clonal, are available commercially, their sensitivity in detecting Cre protein in tissue is highly variable.
This technology describes an engineered antibody to Cre as a tool to verify the presence of Cre protein in tissue. Cre recombinase was cloned into an expression vector permissible to fusion protein production. Mice were immunized with the fusion protein and antibodies were generated against Cre. The monoclonal nature of these Cre antibodies provides consistency of protein detection compared with poly-clonal antibodies. This approach holds promise in improving the efficiency and consistency of antibodies used for Cre detection.
This technology has been validated in HEK293 cells and in retinas from transgenic mice.
IR CU23045
Licensing Contact: Jerry Kokoshka
