GDF-8/Myostatin Antibody [Alexa Fluor™ Plus 488]

• Reactivity: Hu, Mu, Rt
• Clonality: Polyclonal
• Host: Goat
• Conjugate: Alexa Fluor Plus 488

GDF-8/Myostatin Antibody [Alexa Fluor™ Plus 488] Summary

• Specificity: Detects human, mouse, and rat GDF-8/Myostatin in direct ELISAs and Western blots.
• Isotype: IgG
• Clonality: Polyclonal
• Host: Goat

Packaging, Storage & Formulations

• Storage: Protect from light. Do not freeze. 12 months from date of receipt, 2 to 8 °C as supplied
• Buffer: Supplied 0.2 mg/mL in a saline solution containing BSA and Sodium Azide.

Notes

This product is produced by and ships from R&D Systems, Inc., a Bio-Techne brand.

Alternate Names for GDF-8/Myostatin Antibody [Alexa Fluor™ Plus 488]

• GDF8
• GDF-8
• GDF8growth differentiation factor 8
• growth/differentiation factor 8
• MSLHP
• MSTN
• Myostatin

Background

Growth Differentiation Factor 8 (GDF-8), also known as myostatin, is a member of the TGF-beta superfamily that is expressed specifically in developing and adult skeletal muscle. GDF-8 cDNA encodes a 376 amino acid (aa) prepropeptide with a 24 aa residue signal peptide, a 223 aa residue amino-terminal propeptide, and a 109 aa residue carboxy-terminal mature protein. Mature GDF-8 contains the canonical 7-cysteine motif common to other TGF-beta superfamily members. Similar to the TGF-beta s, activins and BMP-11, GDF-8 also contains one extra pair of cysteine residues that is not found in other family members. The bioactive form of GDF-8 is a homodimer with an apparent molecular weight of approximately 25 kDa. GDF-8 is highly conserved across species. At the amino acid sequence level, mature human, mouse, rat and cow GDF-8 are 100% identical. Within the TGF-beta superfamily, GDF-8 is most closely related to BMP-11, a mammalian protein that acts as a dorsal mesoderm and neural inducer in Xenopus explants. The two proteins share 90% amino acid sequence identity within their mature chain. A targeted disruption of GDF-8 in mouse results in large mice with a widespread increase in skeletal muscle mass, indicating that GDF-8 is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. A mutation in the bovine GDF-8 gene has been shown to be responsible for the double-muscled phenotype in cattle breeds such as Belgian Blue cattle that is characterized by an increase in muscle mass. GDF-8 has also been shown to inhibit preadipocyte differentiation to adipocytes. Mature GDF-8 binds to activin type II receptors and the binding is antagonized by the activin-binding protein, follistatin. R&D Systems recombinant GDF-8 preparations have been shown to act similarly to Activin A in both the Xenopus animal cap and the K562 assays.

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2. Sharma, M. et al. (1999) J. Cell Physiol. 180:1.
3. McPherron, A.C. et al. (1997) Nature 387:83.
4. Lee, S.J. et al. (2001) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:9306.
5. Kim, H.S. et al. (2001) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 281:902.

Limitations

This product is for research use only and is not approved for use in humans or in clinical diagnosis. Primary Antibodies are guaranteed for 1 year from date of receipt.