Rapid quantitative assay for chloramphenicol acetyltransferase

Conference · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6030266

Neumann, J R; Morency, C A; Russian, K O

Measuring the expression of exogenous genetic material in mammalian cells is commonly done by fusing the DNA of interest to a gene encoding an easily-detected enzyme. Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase(CAT) is a convenient marker because it is not normally found in eukaryotes. CAT activity has usually been detected using a thin-layer chromatographic separation followed by autoradiography. An organic solvent extraction-based method for CAT detection has also been described, as well as a procedure utilizing HPLC analysis. Building on the extraction technique, they developed a rapid sensitive kinetic method for measuring CAT activity in cell homogenates. The method exploits the differential organic solubility of the substrate ((/sup 3/H) or (/sup 14/C)acetyl CoA) and the product (labeled acetylchloramphenicol). The assay is a simple one-vial, two-phase procedure and requires no tedious manipulations after the initial setup. Briefly, a 0.25 ml reaction with 100mM Tris-HCL, 1mM chloramphenicol, 0.1mM (/sup 14/C)acetyl CoA and variable amounts of cell homogenate is pipetted into a miniscintillation vial, overlaid with 5 ml of a water-immiscible fluor, and incubated at 37/sup 0/C. At suitable intervals the vial is counted and the CAT level is quantitatively determined as the rate of increase in counts/min of the labeled product as it diffuses into the fluor phase, compared to a standard curve. When used to measure CAT in transfected Balb 3T3 cells the method correlated well with the other techniques.

• Research Organization: DuPont NEN Research Products, Boston, MA
• OSTI ID: 6030266
• Report Number(s): CONF-870644-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States) Journal Volume: 46:6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550201* -- Biochemistry-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANIMAL CELLS
ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS
ANTIBIOTICS
BIOASSAY
CARBON 14 COMPOUNDS
CHLORAMPHENICOL
CONNECTIVE TISSUE CELLS
DRUGS
ENZYME ACTIVITY
ENZYMES
FIBROBLASTS
HOMOGENATES
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
SOMATIC CELLS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRANSFERASES
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS