About Cathepsin F
Cathepsins are papain family cysteine proteinases that represent a major component of the lysosomal proteolytic system. Cathepsins generally contain a signal sequence, followed by a propeptide and then a catalytically active mature region. The very long (251 amino acid residues) proregion of the cathepsin F precursor contains a C-terminal domain similar to the pro-segment of cathepsin L-like enzymes, a 50-residue flexible linker peptide, and an N-terminal domain predicted to adopt a cystatin-like fold. The cathepsin F proregion is unique within the papain family cysteine proteases in that it contains this additional N-terminal segment predicted to share structural similarities with cysteine protease inhibitors of the cystatin superfamily. This cystatin-like domain contains some of the elements known to be important for inhibitory activity. CTSF encodes a predicted protein of 484 amino acids which contains a 19 residue signal peptide. Cathepsin F contains five potential N-glycosylation sites, and it may be targeted to the endosomal/lysosomal compartment via the mannose 6-phosphate receptor pathway. The cathepsin F gene is ubiquitously expressed, and it maps to chromosome 11q13, close to the gene encoding cathepsin W. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

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.