I am just a beginner in tau protein and when I was reading relative papers, I found some experiments express FL tau but others only express RD tau in cells. I got a bit confused, and wondering from what point can we decide what kind of tau we use in specific experiments?
Hi Shibo,
It entirely depends on your project and what you are going to study. Different fragments have different roles, such as the repeat domain of tau has role in microtubule binding on the other hand the full length tau has intrinsic property and thought to play a key role in tangle formation. So, based on your area of interest, read literature, design experiments and study tau protein. Good luck!
Well, it depends. If you are interested in observing tau aggregation, then I would suggest overexpressing RD fraction, as it is more prone to aggregate. However, you will be limited if you want to perform an ICC, as most available antibodies are outside of the RD region. Anyways, if you overexpress the whole protein don't be surprised if your cells die, it is known to affect the viability of the cells by over stabilizing their microtubules. However, it will depend on what you are studying and which cells are you expressing the tau protein. Hope it helps!
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