AAV with hRPE(0.8) promoter driven EBFP2

This AAV expresses EBFP2 driven by a retina hRPE(0.8) promoter.

The RPE65 gene encodes a protein of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) with a key role in the cycling of retinoids. It was shown that a RPE promoter of about 0.8 Kb was sufficient to direct high RPE-specific expression in transgenic mice. The 1.5Kb version of the promoter hRPE(1.5), also gives RPE-specific expression, but the expression level is not as high as the 0.8Kb promoter. This is probably due to a negative regulatory element(s) present in the 1.5Kb promoter.

EBFP2 is new version of blue fluorescent protein (BFP), with an Excitation/Emission spectrum of 380nm/448nm. EBFP2 is the brightest and most photo-stable of the BFPs; it is useful for situations in which a blue probe is required, especially when two-photon excitation is used