We describe the construction of pBact-myc, an expression vector that i
ncorporates an immunological 'tag' into the produced polypeptide. When
transfected into recipient cell lines, tagged protein fragments deriv
ed from any source can be visualised using a single monoclonal antibod
y (mAb). The neuronal microtubule-associated protein 2c (MAP2c) was ta
gged with a sequence encoding a peptide from the human c-myc gene. The
preservation of normal function of the tagged protein was shown by tr
ansfecting it into cultured cell lines. No difference in binding abili
ty to cellular microtubules could be observed between the myc-tagged M
AP2c and the wild-type forms, and both produced the same characteristi
c changes in microtubule organisation. This approach is being used to
study the biological function of selected fragments of MAP2c and other
MAP-encoding genes. The pBact-myc expression vector represents a fast
and convenient way to produce tagged polypeptides of selected sequenc
es encoding whole proteins or fragments, for the analysis of their fun
ction in living cells.