Antibody suppliers are constantly updating their databases to take account of the latest autophagy research. Central to this are the ATG (autophagy-related) proteins, which also have links to apoptosis pathways.
ATG 12 is a ubiquitin-like modifier which plays a central role in the formation of the autophagosome. Following ATG 7 activation, it conjugates with ATG 5. The ATG 12/ ATG 5 complex then binds to ATG 16/16L, enabling membrane elongation and maturation of the autophagosome. ATG 5 antibody studies have shown ATG 12/ ATG 5 conjugation is dependent upon ATP, ATG10 and ATG7.
The ATG proteins are generally thought to be specific to autophagy. However, it seems ATG5 plays a secondary role in apoptosis. In 2006, Codogno and Meijer published ATG 5 antibody research showing an Atg5 fragment, resulting from calpain cleavage, exhibited pro-apoptotic properties.
The ATG5/12 complex is a useful marker for autophagy. Recently, however, it was discovered ATG12 has another binding partner: ATG3. ATG3 plays a role in the other ubiquitin-like conjugation reaction associated with autophagy, that of ATG8/MAP1LC3 and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). Both share the same E1-like enzyme (ATG7), but whereas the E2-like enzyme for Atg5/12 is Atg10, for the LC3-PE reaction it is ATG3. Using reagents provided by antibody suppliers, it has been shown LC3-PE conjugation is dependent upon ATG5/ATG12 being present.
In 2010, Radoshevich et al reported that ATG12 also binds to ATG3, in a separate reaction using ATG7 as the E1-like enzyme, and ATG3 functioning in place of E2. It appears this complex inhibits cell death by promoting mitochondrial growth. Research with ATG antibodies employs a number of assay techniques, including paraffin-embedded IHC, and immunofluorescence. In 2007, Shintani et al. used fluorescence microscopy techniques to analyze protein trafficking by Atg proteins.
We at Novus Biologicals are one of the leading global antibody suppliers, with an extensive range of ATG products on our antibody database.
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