Commercial Sources of Fluorescent Protein Vectors Resources

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Amaxa Biosystems

Headquartered in Cologne, Germany with an American subsidiary in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Amaxa offers a range of products designed for efficient transfection and electroporation of mammalian cell lines. Included are thepmaxFPline of fluorescent protein vectors: pmaxFP-Green, pmaxFP-Yellow-m, and pmaxFP-Red, which are alternative labels for TurboGFP, phiYFP, and JRed, respectively. The plasmids are equipped with selectable markers (Kanamycin/G-418), a multiple cloning sequence, enhanced promoters, and polyadenylation signals to serve as hosts for N-terminal and C-terminal fusions.

BD Biosciences Pharmingen

The Pharmingen unit of BD Biosciences markets mammalian, nematode, and insect expression vectors containing blue, green, and yellow fluorescent protein sequences. Many of these vectors are expressed by baculovirus transfection, contain a multiple cloning site, antibiotic resistance gene, and hexa-histidine markers. Mammalian expression vectors are supplied with a blasticidin or ampicillin antibiotic resistance sequence for selection of stable transfectants, and are designed to produce fusions to the C-terminus and N-terminus of target proteins.

Clontech Laboratories

Currently owned by Takara Bio, Inc., in involved with the development, production, and marketing of a wide spectrum of biological products, including theirLiving Colorslineup of fluorescent protein vectors. Among the vectors offered by Clontech are AcGFP1, AmCyan1, AsRed2, DsRed2, HcRed1, Timer, ZsGreen1, and ZsYellow1, featured as bacterial and codon-optimized mammalian expression agents designed for the construction of C-terminal and N-terminal fusions, as well as a limited number of sub-cellular localization fusion constructs.

Evrogen

Headquartered in Moscow, Russia, provides a number of novel products for molecular and cellular biological investigations, including a lineup of fluorescent protein and optical highlighter vectors. Ranging in color from cyan to the far red, the vectors offered by include CopGFP, PhiYFP, JRed, TurboGFP, and the photoconvertible fluorescent proteins KFP-Red (Kindling) and PS-CFP2. The vectors are available as bacterial and mammalian expression vectors designed to produce fusions to the C-terminus and N-terminus of target proteins, as well as a limited number of sub-cellular localization fusion constructs.

Invitrogen

One of the largest biotechnology companies to offer fluorescent protein vectors, also owns Molecular Probes, the world-recognized leader in synthetic fluorophores. 'sVivid Colorfluorescent protein vector lineup includes a variety of color-shifted mutants derived from the originalAequorea victoriajellyfish GFP. Among the vectors available from are Emerald Green Fluorescent Protein (EmGFP), YFP, BFP, CFP, and Cycle3 GFP, an enhanced version of wild-type GFP with brighter fluorescence and optimized expression.

LUX Biotechnology

Based in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, LUX (a distributor for Prolume Ltd.) develops modern enabling technologies for drug discovery, toxicity testing and research. The company has three product ranges that include whole organism screening, scientific reference devices and a wide variety of novel luminescence and fluorescence research reagents. Among the fluorescent protein vectors available from LUX are native and human-codon optimized GFP sequences derived fromPtilosarcus(Sea Pen) andRenilla(Sea Pansy) Anthozoan species. The company also develops marine Luciferases, Luciferins, photoproteins, and related products.

MBL International

Enlisting a host of international distributors, is a subsidiary of Medical and Biological Laboratories Company, LTD in Japan. The company offers a wide variety of agents for research in cellular biology including theirCoralHuelineup of fluorescent protein and optical highlighter vectors. Among the proteins offered by MBL are Azami Green, Dronpa, Kaede, Kikume (KikGR), Kusabira Orange, and Midoriishi Cyan. The vectors are available as bacterial and mammalian expression vectors designed to produce fusions to the C-terminus and N-terminus of target proteins.

NanoLight Technology

NanoLight is the technology division of Prolume Ltd., a company focusing upon broad based applications of marine bioluminescence. The NanoLight division is dedicated to providing scientists with the highest quality reagent luciferins, recombinant bioluminescent proteins, photoproteins, and fluorescent proteins. Among the fluorescent protein vectors available from NanoLight are native and human-codon optimized GFP sequences derived fromPtilosarcus(Sea Pen) andRenilla(Sea Pansy) Anthozoan species. The company also develops marine Luciferases, Luciferins, photoproteins, and related products.

Nature Technology Corporation

Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, NTC is a technology-based molecular biology and gene therapy company, providing expert vector and DNA vaccine development, as well as highly-purified plasmid DNA production and recombinant protein manufacturing services. Most of the services offered by NTC are highly customized to suit the individual needs of customers.

Perkin Elmer

Widely known for products in the optoelectronics and fluid dynamics sciences, is also a leading provider of products for drug discovery, genetic engineering, and chemical analysis. The company distributed GFP2 (squared) vectors, which are human codon-optimized derivatives of the originalAequorea victoriajellyfish GFP. GFP vectors contain a multiple cloning site located either upstream (for N-terminus fusions) or downstream (for C-terminus fusions) of the fluorescent protein nucleotide sequence.

Planet Gene

is a unique company offering a searchable database of synthetic genes that have been modified from natural sequences to improve or alter one or more properties. The company'sDNA-2-Goprogram enables researchers to obtain custom gene synthesis of specific DNA sequences in the database. Among the fluorescent protein complementary DNA sequences available from are mCFP, Cerulean, mEGFP, mVenus, mHoneydew, mBanana, mOrange, mTangerine, mStrawberry, mRFP1, mRFPmars, mCherry, mRaspberry, and mPlum.

Promega

An international corporation based in Madison, Wisconsin, offers a wide spectrum of products targeted a research in the life sciences. The company markets theMonster Greenfluorescent protein, which is packaged in a mammalian expression vector (hMGFP) derived from the Great Star coral,Montastraea cavernosa. This fluorescent protein is a slightly red-shifted version of GFP with an absorption maxima at 505 nanometers and a fluorescence emission peak located at 515 nanometers.

Stratagene

With a worldwide headquarters in La Jolla, California, develops innovative products and technologies for life science research. The fluorescent protein vectors available from are bundled into the company'sVitalityproduct line, which includes hrGFP II, a humanized green fluorescent protein derived fromRenilla reniformis. vectors are available as bacterial and mammalian expression agents designed to produce fusions to the C-terminus and N-terminus of target proteins, as well as a limited number of sub-cellular localization fusion constructs.