Table I.

Localization of Expressed Zyxin–β-gal Fusion Proteins in Rat Embryo Fibroblast (REF-52) Cells

Construct		Nucleus (percentage of cells)		Cytoplasm (percentage of cells)		Number of cells
β-gal		100		0		49
β-gal-Zyx305-411		5		95		98
β-gal-Zyx305-351		20		80		85

To test the ability of zyxin's conserved leucine-rich region to relocalize nuclear proteins to the cytoplasm, the distribution of β-gal with and without fused zyxin amino acid sequences was determined by immunofluorescence. Plasmids engineered to express β-gal or β-gal–zyxin fusion proteins were injected into REF-52 cells, and cells were stained with anti–β-gal antibodies 24 h after injected. Cells that expressed the construct were identified by fluorescence microscopy, and the distribution of fusion protein was scored. Results from three experiments are shown.