AAV with aMHC promoter driven LacZ

This AAV expresses LacZ driven by a cardiac aMHC promoter.

αMHC(0.4) promoter is derived from the murine α-MHC gene (alpha-myosin heavy chain) and drives cardiac-specific expression. The length of this promoter is 0.4 Kb. Based on studies in primary cardiomyocytes, this aMHC(0.4) promoter gives an expression level that is comparable to that of a CMV promoter.

The bacterial enzyme -galactosidase (gene LacZ) is frequently used as a reporter gene. It can be easily located with LacZ staining using the artificial substrate X-gal, which turns blue when cleaved by -galactosidase (LacZ).