Reporter gene

Reporter gene analysis is very important for studying the regulation of cis or trans acting factors on gene expression or measuring the activation of cellular signal pathways. In these analyses, reporter genes act as substitutes for the study of gene coding regions. The reporter gene structure includes one or more gene regulatory elements being analyzed, the structural sequence of the reporter gene and the sequence required to form functional mRNA. After introducing the reporter construct into cells and experimental treatment, the expression level of the reporter gene is monitored by quantifying the reporter protease activity, which is used to characterize regulatory sequences, transcription factor activity, cellular signals or signal pathways.

The two functional parts of the gene include coding region and promoter region. The coding region is a DNA sequence containing protein information generated by transcription and translation mechanisms. Promoter region is a specific DNA sequence that regulates gene transcription and can activate or inhibit gene expression.

Reporter gene analysis is usually used to measure the regulatory ability of unknown DNA sequences. This is achieved by connecting an unknown promoter sequence to an easy to detect reporter gene, and the products of the reporter gene can be easily detected and quantitatively measured.

Common reporter genes include β- Galactosidase, luciferase β- Lactamase, alkaline phosphatase and green fluorescent protein (GFP). Luminescence, absorbance and fluorescence detection methods are usually used to measure the expression of reporter gene proteins.
 

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