About Spastin
This gene encodes a member of the AAA (ATPases associated with a variety of cellular activities) protein family. Members of this protein family share an ATPase domain and have roles in diverse cellular processes including membrane trafficking, intracellular motility, organelle biogenesis, protein folding, and proteolysis. The use of alternative translational initiation sites in this gene results in a single transcript variant that can produce isoforms that differ in the length of their N-terminus and which thereby differ in the efficiency of their export from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In addition, alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants that encode isoforms that differ in other protein regions as well. One isoform of this gene has been shown to be a microtubule-severing enzyme that regulates microtubule abundance, mobility, and plus-end distribution. Mutations in this gene cause the most frequent form of autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia 4. [provided by RefSeq, May 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.