Life technologies sell products with a maximum 19.7 mg/ml and Corning 100 mg/ml. Lonza had a brand having less than 1 mg/ml but it has discontinued. Also, PAA laboratories offered a now discontinued FBS Gold.
We get our FCS from Sigma (UK) and have never had any problems with our tetracycline-regulated cell lines (though I'm not sure if it's 'guaranteed' tet-free). I'm fairly sure that tet isn't widely used in cattle rearing in Europe - its use as a growth promoter was banned in the UK in the 1970s, and as far as I'm aware, the rest of Europe has taken a similar view(?) - so tet in FCS (of EU origin) shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, Sigma let you test and reserve batches of sera, so this should allow you to test their compatibility with your tet-regulated cell lines. Hope this helps.
You can buy your FBS tetracycline free from clontech: http://www.clontech.com/US/Products/Inducible_Systems/Tetracycline-Inducible_Expression/FBS
It is garanteed by the company that the FBS is optimal for Tet-systems.
Regards.
I would also recommend to go for clontech as they're providing all the equipment to generate even double stable cell lines. They're experts on the field and also very helpful in case of any questions you might have.
Indeed Clontech Tet system approved FBS works great with doxy-inducible cell lines. I work a lot with GFP-tagged constructs and have never observed any inappropriate expression with FACS, imaging, immunoblot or qPCR.
I have a tet-inducible system in which I express an oncogene that gives a selective growth advantage to cells. Any leakage and within a few passages all cells will constitutively express the oncogene regardless of dox induction. My experience is that only the clontech TET-approved FBS can keep the leakage under control.
- Badges
- Science topic