A highly sensitive, mixed-phase assay for chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity in transfected cells

✍ Scribed by David A. Nielsen; Tsu-Chung Chang; David J. Shapiro

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 867 KB
• Volume: 179
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(89)90193-0

✦ Synopsis

We describe a simple, rapid yet extremely sensitive assay for chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in extracts from transfected eukaryotic cells. Using our modified reaction conditions and the mixed-phase assay, less than 0.000010 unit of CAT activity in transfected cells can be reliably detected. The mixed-phase assay is based on the inability of the polar [3H]-acetyl-Coenzyme A (CoA) substrate to partition out of a urea containing aqueous phase into the nonpolar scintillation fluor, while the [3H]chloramphenicol reaction products partition into the toluene scintillation fluor and are quantitated by scintillation counting. The increased sensitivity of this assay is due to the optimization of the acetyl-CoA concentration, to a urea-containing aqueous phase which lowers the assay background, and to the use of extract blanks. The mixed-phase assay is simpler, is quantitative, uses less costly substrates, and is far more sensitive than the most widely used CAT assays, which require solvent extraction followed by thin-layer chromatography to separate the unreacted substrate from product.