G418

Geneticin Sulfate, also known as G418, is an aminoglycoside antibiotic. This compound has been shown to cause a bypass of nonsense mutations during translation. Experiments have shown that G418 inhibits the incorporation of amino acids into protein and can destroy fibroblasts. G418 is toxic to bacteria, yeast, higher plants, mammalian cells, protozoans and helminths. In mammalian cells, selection is commonly performed using 400 mg/L G418, followed by 200 mg/L for culture maintenance. G418 is commonly used for the selection of cells that are genetically engineered with a plasmid containing the neo (neor) gene, which provides resistance to G418. This antibiotic is commonly used during the selection of transfected cell lines.