Stable reconstitution of IKK-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts

Retroviral transduction is an invaluable technique in molecular biology used to express proteins encoded by nonviral genes in mammalian cells. A key feature of this technique is the ability to create cell lines that stably express the protein of interest and can be cultured long term. Here we describe a retroviral transduction procedure for mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) that uses Platinum-E cells to rapidly package high-titer, helper-free retrovirus. This technique is useful to study the role of key signaling kinases in the NF-κB signal transduction pathway.