Comparison of Equivalence between Two Commercially Available S499-Phosphorylated FMRP Antibodies in Mice

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 18;10(11):e0143134. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143134. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) develops from excessive trinucleotide CGG repeats in the 5'-untranslated region at Xq27.3 of the Fmr-1 gene, which functionally silences its expression and prevents transcription of its protein. This disorder is the most prominent form of heritable intellectual deficiency, affecting roughly 1 in 5,000 males and 1 in 10,000 females globally. Antibody specificity and selectivity are essential for investigating changes in intracellular protein signaling and phosphorylation status of the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP). Currently, both PhosphoSolutions® and abcam® produce commercially available S499-phosphorylated FMRP specific antibodies. The antibody from PhosphoSolutions® has been validated in previous studies; however, the antibody from abcam® antibody has yet to receive similar validation. This study aims to determine whether these two antibodies are true equivalents through western blot analysis of both NS-Pten knockout (KO) and Fmr-1 KO mice strains. We prepared hippocampal synaptosomal preparations and probed the samples using total FMRP, abcam® phosphorylated FMRP, and PhosphoSolutions® phosphorylated FMRP antibodies. We found that there was a significant increase in phosphorylated FMRP levels using the abcam® and PhosphoSolutions® antibodies in the NS-Pten KO mice compared to wildtype mice. However, there was much more variability using the abcam® antibody. Furthermore, there was a band present in the Fmr-1 KO for the phosphorylated FMRP site using the abcam® antibody for western blotting but not for the PhosphoSolutions® antibody. Our findings strongly suggest that the antibody from abcam® is neither specific nor selective for its advertised targeted substrate, S499-phosphorylated FMRP.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies / chemistry*
  • Antibody Specificity
  • Blotting, Western / standards*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Female
  • Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein / analysis*
  • Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein / genetics
  • Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein / metabolism
  • Fragile X Syndrome / genetics*
  • Fragile X Syndrome / metabolism
  • Fragile X Syndrome / pathology
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression
  • Hippocampus / chemistry
  • Hippocampus / metabolism
  • Hippocampus / pathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / deficiency
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / genetics
  • Phosphorylation
  • Synaptosomes / chemistry
  • Synaptosomes / metabolism
  • Synaptosomes / pathology
  • Therapeutic Equivalency

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Fmr1 protein, mouse
  • Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase
  • Pten protein, mouse

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.1582675