About PIG3
The protein encoded by this gene is similar to oxidoreductases, which are enzymes involved in cellular responses to oxidative stresses and irradiation. This gene is induced by the tumor suppressor p53 and is thought to be involved in p53-mediated cell death. It contains a p53 consensus binding site in its promoter region and a downstream pentanucleotide microsatellite sequence. P53 has been shown to transcriptionally activate this gene by interacting with the downstream pentanucleotide microsatellite sequence. The microsatellite is polymorphic, with a varying number of pentanucleotide repeats directly correlated with the extent of transcriptional activation by p53. It has been suggested that the microsatellite polymorphism may be associated with differential susceptibility to cancer. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, May 2011]

About FITC
Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) has an excitation peak at 495 nm and an emission peak at 519 nm. The name FITC is a misnomer in that the isothiocyanate is a reactive form of this dye. Once FITC is conjugated to an antibody, it is simply Fluorescein conjugated. FITC is one of the most widely used dyes for fluorescent applications, therefore most instruments come standard with a 488 nm laser and FITC filter set up. FITC is commonly conjugated to secondary antibodies and used in applications such as flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry. FITC is relatively dim, sensitive to photobleaching and it is susceptible to changes is pH. There are better performing alternatives to FITC, like Vio®Bright 515, Alexa Fluor™ 488, iFluor® 488, CF®488A and DY-488. FITC is a long-time generic dye with no sole manufacturer or trademark.