AAV with hRPE(1.5) promoter driven Mito-roGFP1

This AAV expresses Mito-roGFP1 driven by a retina hRPE(1.5) promoter.

The RPE65 gene encodes a protein of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) with a key role in the cycling of retinoids. This 1.5Kb promoter gives RPE-specific expression, but the expression level is not as high as that of the shorter, 0.8Kb, promoter. This is probably due to a negative regulatory element(s) present in the 1.5Kb promoter.

The mitochondrial targeting sequence of human pyruvate dehydrogenase alpha 1 (PDHA1) is fused in-frame with the redox-sensitive green fluorescent protein (roGFP1). The Mito-roGFP1 is a biosensor for investigating the mitochondrial reduction-oxidation potential.