About Vitamin D Receptor
This gene encodes vitamin D3 receptor, which is a member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily of ligand-inducible transcription factors. This receptor also functions as a receptor for the secondary bile acid, lithocholic acid. Downstream targets of vitamin D3 receptor are principally involved in mineral metabolism, though this receptor regulates a variety of other metabolic pathways, such as those involved in immune response and cancer. Mutations in this gene are associated with type II vitamin D-resistant rickets. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the initiation codon results in an alternate translation start site three codons downstream. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described for this gene. A recent study provided evidence for translational readthrough in this gene, and expression of an additional C-terminally extended isoform via the use of an alternative in-frame translation termination codon. [provided by RefSeq, Jun 2018]

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.