Not long ago, in the summer of 2014, SiR-actin and SiR-tubulin to stain actin and tubulin in living cells were launched on the market by Spirochrome (represented across Europe by tebu-bio). Now, SiR-actin has already made its way to the front cover of the most recent issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
By co-sedimentation assays and FRET experiments, Stölting et al. (1) could show that the ß-subunit of cardiac L-type calcium channels (CaVβ) directly interacts with actin filaments which are involved in intracellular trafficking. The front cover of the recent JBC issue shows spinning disk confocal images of HEK293 cells co-expressing CaVβ and CaV1.2 L-type calcium channel and stained for actin filaments using SiR-actin.
Are you also interested in directly staining actin (and/or tubulin) in living cells without any transfection step?
Take a look at our recent blogs on these reagents:
- 2 new Actin and Tubulin live-cell imaging stains – without transfection!
- Verapamil can enhance live cell staining of Actin & Tubulin with SiR-dyes
Any questions about how SiR-actin and SiR-tubulin (also available together in one Cytoskeleton Kit) could boost your research? Just leave your comments below!
Reference
(1) Stölting el al., The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 290: p. 4561-4572 (2015).
2 responses
Hi. I want to stain C.elegans with these dyes. Since the worm body is covered by thick cuticle. I wonder whether these dyes can be uptake by the worms.
Dear Shiya, I am afraid that this approach has not been tested yet. But it might be worth a try.