HRP cDNA expression: a label for modern electron microscopy on neuroscience

描述（由研究者提供）：大分子结构的组织是 我们对蛋白质性质和生物学功能的理解中缺失的一环。需要找到 因此，生物功能和大分子结构之间的详细关系是无可争议的 在几乎所有生物学领域。绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）的引入使其成为可能 在细胞水平上研究结构与功能的关系，并开始了细胞生物学的革命。 然而，只有电子显微镜（EM）提供足够的分辨率来研究的组织， 大分子结构，以及EM报告基因的缺乏阻碍了遗传方法 几十年来一直致力于精细结构研究最近，我们将辣根过氧化物酶（HRP）cDNA 作为一种遗传标记，可以标记整个神经元，而不会破坏精细结构。这个标记， 与现代EM方法（例如，高分辨率电子层析成像），具有很大潜力 通过扩大我们对神经科学和细胞生物学的了解， 大分子组织

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): The organization of macromolecular structures is the missing link in our understanding of the properties of proteins and biological function. The need to find the detailed relationship between biological function and macromolecular structure is, thus, undisputed in almost all areas of biology. The introduction of green fluorescent protein (GFP) has made it possible to study structure-function relationships at the cellular level and started a revolution in cell biology. However, only electron microscopy (EM) provides sufficient resolution to study the organization of macromolecular structures, and the lack of a reporter gene for EM has hampered genetic approaches in fine structural research for decades. Recently, we introduced horseradish peroxidase (HRP) cDNA as a genetic marker that can label entire neurons without destroying the fine structure. This marker, together with modern EM approaches (e.g., high resolution electron tomography), has a great potential to advance the field of neuroscience and all areas of cell biology by expanding our knowledge of macromolecular organization.