About Integrin alpha 7
The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the integrin alpha chain family. Integrins are heterodimeric integral membrane proteins composed of an alpha chain and a beta chain. They mediate a wide spectrum of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and thus play a role in cell migration, morphologic development, differentiation, and metastasis. This protein functions as a receptor for the basement membrane protein laminin-1. It is mainly expressed in skeletal and cardiac muscles and may be involved in differentiation and migration processes during myogenesis. Defects in this gene are associated with congenital myopathy. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been noted for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Feb 2009]

About Alexa Fluor 488
Alexa Fluor™ 488 (AF488, Alexa 488) has an excitation peak at 488 nm and an emission peak at 496 nm, and is considered a high-performance alternative to FITC. Alexa 488 is one of the most popular Alexa Fluor™ dyes and is widely used in Fluorescence Microscopy, flow cytometry, and for staining low expression markers. It is bright, highly photostable, resistant to pH changes, and less susceptible to photobleaching. Alexa 488 and is similar in size, brightness and application to DyLight™ 488, iFluor® 488 and CF®488A.