Cell Microinjection: in Vivo Analysis of the Functional Domains of Viral Regulatory Proteins

Abstract

AbstractMammalian-cell microinjection is a powerful method for analyzing the in vivo functions of viral genes and viral gene products. By microinjection, a controlled amount (ranging from 1 to many thousands of copies) of a viral or cellular gene, a protein product of a gene, a polypeptide fragment encoding a specific protein domain, or an RNA molecule can be delivered into a target cell and the functional consequences analyzed. Injection of DNA into the nuclei of cultured mammalian cells provides a sensitive bioassay for gene expression. The product of a single injected gene copy can be detected using standard immunofluorescent, immunochemical, and autoradiographic techniques (1). The direct analysis of protein function by microinjection has been facilitated by the ability to produce biologically active recombinant proteins and protein fragments encoded by many interesting genes.KeywordsCover SlipSearch Plane243R ProteinInjection MixtureMicroinjection ExperimentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.