Production and characterization of monoclonal antibodies that recognize bovine Kit receptor

Kit receptor is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase that is the receptor for stem cell factor (SCF). The extracellular domain of bovine Kit receptor (boKit) was produced by a baculovirus expression system. Six monoclonal antibody (MAb) clones designated as bK-1 to bK-6 were obtained upon immunization of mice with the recombinant protein. Immunoprecipitation and flow cytometric analysis indicated that all of the MAbs specifically bound to boKit expressed in COS-7 cells transfected with boKit cDNA. Four of the six MAbs neutralized the biological activity of recombinant bovine SCF, whereas the other two did not. The boKit-positive and boKit-negative cell fractions were sorted from cryopreserved bovine bone marrow cells by the use of MAb bK-1. Colony formation assays indicated that the cells which were able to grow in response to bovine SCF were enriched in the boKit-positive fraction. These MAbs would be valuable in studying possible boKit-positive cell species such as bovine hematopoietic cells, and in defining the biological role of Kit receptor in cattle.