CST/SignalSilence^® Akt1 siRNA I (Mouse Specific) #6909/6909S

Product Usage Information

CST recommends transfection with 100 nM Akt1 siRNA I (Mouse Specific) 48 to 72 hours prior to cell lysis. For transfection procedure, follow protocol provided by the transfection reagent manufacturer. Please feel free to contact CST with any questions on use.

Each vial contains the equivalent of 100 transfections, which corresponds to a final siRNA concentration of 100 nM per transfection in a 24-well plate with a total volume of 300 μl per well.

Storage:

SignalSilence® siRNA is supplied in RNAse-free water. Aliquot and store at -20ºC.

Product Description

SignalSilence^® Akt1 siRNA I (Mouse Specific) from Cell Signaling Technology (CST) allows the researcher to specifically inhibit Akt1 expression using RNA interference, a method whereby gene expression can be selectively silenced through the delivery of double stranded RNA molecules into the cell. All SignalSilence^® siRNA products from CST are rigorously tested in-house and have been shown to reduce target protein expression by western analysis.

Quality Control

Oligonucleotide synthesis is monitored base by base through trityl analysis to ensure appropriate coupling efficiency. The oligo is subsequently purified by affinity-solid phase extraction. The annealed RNA duplex is further analyzed by mass spectrometry to verify the exact composition of the duplex. Each lot is compared to the previous lot by mass spectrometry to ensure maximum lot-to-lot consistency.

Background

Akt, also referred to as PKB or Rac, plays a critical role in controlling survival and apoptosis (1-3). This protein kinase is activated by insulin and various growth and survival factors to function in a wortmannin-sensitive pathway involving PI3 kinase (2,3). Akt is activated by phospholipid binding and activation loop phosphorylation at Thr308 by PDK1 (4) and by phosphorylation within the carboxy terminus at Ser473. The previously elusive PDK2 responsible for phosphorylation of Akt at Ser473 has been identified as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in a rapamycin-insensitive complex with rictor and Sin1 (5,6). Akt promotes cell survival by inhibiting apoptosis through phosphorylation and inactivation of several targets, including Bad (7), forkhead transcription factors (8), c-Raf (9), and caspase-9. PTEN phosphatase is a major negative regulator of the PI3 kinase/Akt signaling pathway (10). LY294002 is a specific PI3 kinase inhibitor (11). Another essential Akt function is the regulation of glycogen synthesis through phosphorylation and inactivation of GSK-3α and β (12,13). Akt may also play a role in insulin stimulation of glucose transport (12). In addition to its role in survival and glycogen synthesis, Akt is involved in cell cycle regulation by preventing GSK-3β-mediated phosphorylation and degradation of cyclin D1 (14) and by negatively regulating the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors p27 Kip1 (15) and p21 Waf1/Cip1 (16). Akt also plays a critical role in cell growth by directly phosphorylating mTOR in a rapamycin-sensitive complex containing raptor (17). More importantly, Akt phosphorylates and inactivates tuberin (TSC2), an inhibitor of mTOR within the mTOR-raptor complex (18,19).

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2. Burgering, B.M. and Coffer, P.J. (1995) Nature 376, 599-602.
3. Franke, T.F. et al. (1995) Cell 81, 727-36.
4. Alessi, D.R. et al. (1996) EMBO J 15, 6541-51.
5. Sarbassov, D.D. et al. (2005) Science 307, 1098-101.
6. Jacinto, E. et al. (2006) Cell 127, 125-37.
7. Cardone, M.H. et al. (1998) Science 282, 1318-21.
8. Brunet, A. et al. (1999) Cell 96, 857-68.
9. Zimmermann, S. and Moelling, K. (1999) Science 286, 1741-4.
10. Cantley, L.C. and Neel, B.G. (1999) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96, 4240-5.
11. Vlahos, C.J. et al. (1994) J Biol Chem 269, 5241-8.
12. Hajduch, E. et al. (2001) FEBS Lett 492, 199-203.
13. Cross, D.A. et al. (1995) Nature 378, 785-9.
14. Diehl, J.A. et al. (1998) Genes Dev 12, 3499-511.
15. Gesbert, F. et al. (2000) J Biol Chem 275, 39223-30.
16. Zhou, B.P. et al. (2001) Nat Cell Biol 3, 245-52.
17. Navé, B.T. et al. (1999) Biochem J 344 Pt 2, 427-31.
18. Inoki, K. et al. (2002) Nat Cell Biol 4, 648-57.
19. Manning, B.D. et al. (2002) Mol Cell 10, 151-62.

Pathways & Proteins

Explore pathways + proteins related to this product.

Database Links

Swiss-Prot Acc.:P31750

Entrez-Gene Id:11651

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