Rabbit Polyclonal Antibody to MARCKS
Cat# RPCA-MARCKS

      Myristolyated alanine rich C-kinase substrate, hence MARCKS, was originally discovered by as a major substrate for protein kinase C in the brain and other tissues (1). The protein sequence is indeed unusually rich in alanine, the human sequence containing 30.7% alanine. It is also rich in glutamic acid (16.0%), proline (10.5%) and glycine (10.2%). The sequence has almost no hydrophobic amino acids and has a calculated molecular weight of 31.4kDa and PI of 4.46. These unusual features are responsible for the low SDS-PAGE mobility, which gives an apparent molecular weight of 80kDa. MARCKS belongs to the family of intrinsically unstructured proteins (IUP) which typically have a high content of glutamic acid and proline and low hydrophobic content (5). IUP proteins or regions with these properties within larger proteins hove no defined structure but adopt a defined conformation on binding to their ligands. MARCKS interacts with actin and calcium in a manner regulated by protein kinase C (2-4). It is a major protein of the brain concentrated in the synapses of neurons and is membrane localized due to the N-terminal lipid myristoyl group. Antibody to MARCKS can therefore be used as a marker of synaptic regions. Genetic knock out of MARCKS in transgenic mice is perinatal lethal and associated with aberrant brain development suggesting a fundamental importance in the CNS (6). Since the MARCKS protein sequence is relatively poorly conserved across species boundaries, antibodies to the human protein may not work well on rodent tissues, which is the case with this reagent.
      The RPCA-MARCKS antibody was made against recombinant full length human MARCKS expressed in and purified from E. coli. The antibody works well on human cells and tissues but is not recommended for work on rodent material. We also supply a mouse monoclonal and a chicken polyclonal antibodies to this protein, MCA-5F9 and CPCA-MARCKS. Mouse select image at left for larger view.