| abstract |
Novel fusion reporter genes, fusion reporter proteins, and an improved reporter system for measuring the relative activity of a promoter sequence. A luxAB fusion gene of the present invention is particularly useful as a reporter gene and is derived from the fusion of a luxA gene and a luxB gene from Vibrio harveyi. The gene products of the luxA and luxB genes are the α- and β-subunits, respectively, of a bacterial luciferase. A fusion protein encoded by a luxAB fusion gene is a single active protein and is particularly useful as a reporter protein having luciferase activity. An advantage of such a reporter system to assay gene expression in many cells which contain FMNH 2 , such as bacterial and yeast cells, is that an immediate and quantitative assessment of gene expression may be made from real-time light measurements using intact cells. |