Stable Isotope Labeling with Amino Acids in Cell Culture

**Semantic type:** Laboratory Procedure

**Definition:** A method for generating labeled proteins or peptides for mass spectrometry analysis that leverages the cellular protein translation machinery. Briefly, cells are grown through several rounds of cell division in a culture medium that lacks a standard essential amino acid and insteady contains a non-radioactive isotope-labeled version of that amino acid. After a set number of cell doublings, each occurrence of the essential amino acid will be replaced with the labeled analog.

**Synonyms:** - AACT - Amino Acid-Coded Mass Tags - SILAC - Stable Isotope Labeling by Amino Acids in Cell Culture - Stable Isotope Labeling by/with Amino Acids in Cell Culture