Patent ID: 7118890

Claim:
An antibody which binds a vertebrate Delta protein, which vertebrate Delta protein is encoded by a first nucleic acid that hybridizes under high stringency conditions to a second nucleic acid, or its complement, the nucleotide sequence of the second nucleic acid being selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:11, SEQ ID NO:14, SEQ lID NO:26 and SEQ ID NO:24, said high stringency conditions comprising pretreatment for 8 hours to overnight in a solution containing 6×SSC, 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 1 mM EDTA, 0.02% PVP, 0.02% Ficoll, 0.02% BSA, and 500 μg/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA; hybridization for 48 hours at 68° C. in a solution containing 6×SSC, 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 1 mM EDTA, 0.02% PVP, 0.02% Ficoll, 0.02% BSA, and 100 μ/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA; washing for 1 hour at 37° C. in a solution containing 2×SSC, 0.01% PVP, 0.01% Ficoll, and 0.01% BSA; and a second washing for 45 minutes at 50° C. in a solution containing 0.1×SSC; and which antibody does not bind a Drosophila Delta protein.