Description
Product Characteristics: Smoothelin is a constituent of the smooth muscle cell (SMC) cytoskeleton. Antibodies directed to smoothelin are useful tools to monitor SMC differentiation. Smoothelin is exclusively expressed in fully differentiated (contractile) SMCs. RNA and protein analyses revealed a broad species distribution of this protein. Cells with SMC-like characteristics, such as myofibroblasts and myoepithelial cells, as well as skeletal and cardiac muscle do not contain smoothelin. Confocal scanning laser microscopy of tissue sections and cells in culture show a filamentous organization of smoothelin colocalizing with actin stress fibers. In immunoblots two molecular weight isoforms are detected i.e. a 59 kDa isoform specific for visceral SMC (smoothelin A), and an isoform with a molecular weight of approximately 100 kDa in vascular SMC (smoothelin B). Human smoothelin is encoded by a single copy gene which is located on chromosome 22.
Target Information: This gene encodes a structural protein that is found exclusively in contractile smooth muscle cells. It associates with stress fibers and constitutes part of the cytoskeleton. This gene is localized to chromosome 22q12.3, distal to the TUPLE1 locus and outside the DiGeorge syndrome deletion. Alternative splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, May 2011]