Luciferase Reporter Assay Kits

Firefly and Renilla luciferases are widely used as reporter genes for studying gene regulation and function, and for pharmaceutical screening. PromoKine's ready-to-use Luciferase Reporter Assay Kits provide complete systems for rapid, convenient, and quantitative detection of luciferase activity in cultured eukaryotic cells, e.g., cells transfected with a plasmid carrying the Firefly and/or Renilla luciferase reporter genes. They are optimized to provide excellent sensitivity as well as consistent light output when working with multiple samples.
Firefly luciferase catalyzes the oxidative carboxylation of luciferin, a reaction with the highest efficiency of any known bioluminescence reaction. Consequently, this sensitive reporter is ideally suited for studying gene regulation and function.
Renilla luciferase is often used in conjunction with Firefly luciferase as a normalizing transfection control or for multiplex transcriptional reporter assays.
Both, Firefly luciferase and Renilla luciferase show maximum light output only when substrates and co-factors are present in large quantities. When assayed under these conditions, light emitted from the reaction is directly proportional to the number of luciferase enzyme molecules.  The light emission from the reaction can be recorded using a luminometer.

The Luciferase Reporter HTS Kits have  been specifically designed for economic, high-throughput applications using highdensity microplates.

In addition to the Firefly luciferase substrate D-Luciferin, we also provide a wide range of coelenterazine substrates for the Renilla luciferase catalysed reaction (see order information).

See also: Luciferase Reporter Plasmids

PromoKine's β-Galactosidase Staining Kit and β-Galactosidase Reporter Assay Kit have been designed to detect and quantitate β-Gal activity in cells transfected with a plasmid carrying the frequently used LacZ reporter gene. This gene encodes β-galactosidase, an enzyme that is very stable and resistant to proteolytic degradation and can be conveniently assayed in situ. When expressed in transfected cells, it converts a colorless substrate (e.g. CPRG, X-Gal, or ONPG) into a colored reaction product that can be easily detected microscopically (β-Galactosidase Staining Kit) or quantified using a spectrophotometer (β-Galactosidase Reporter Assay Kit).

In addition, PromoKine also provides a range of chromogenic beta-Galactosidse substrates (see order information).

See also: beta-Galctosidase Reporter Plasmids

GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) is a fluorescent protein originally isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. GFP and its enhanced variant EGFP have been widely used as reporter proteins for in vivo monitoring of gene expression in a variety of cell types and organisms. Since GFP requires no additional substrates or cofactors, GFP fluorescence can easily be detected using a fluorescence microscope. However, most imaging studies of GFP are qualitative. Quantitative analyses of GFP expression levels in cells or tissues are more informative and have wider applications. The GFP Reporter Assay Kit has been designed for use in a 96-well micro-plate format (Ex/Em = 488 nm/507nm). Cells or tissues can be homogenized directly in the provided GFP assay buffer and the supernatant of the lysed cells/tissues is transfered to the microwell plates. The amount of GFP is determined by comparing its fluorescence with that of a GFP standard. The kit can detect a wide range of GFP concentrations (0.01-10 μg/ml). Furthermore, a GFP quench solution is provided for determining autofluorescence levels of cell or tissue extracts.

See also: GFP Reporter Plasmids