| abstract |
The present invention is concerned with the detection of ligands which bind to and activate steroid hormone receptors. Specifically, the present invention provides test kits and assay methods for the selective identification of steroid hormone receptor ligands from a test sample. Importantly, the test kits and assay methods described herein are cell-free, and do not require expensive-to-manufacture nuclear extracts for their performance. Instead, the test kits and assay methods described herein employ single polypeptide polymerases, such as T7 RNA polymerase, linked to a reporter construct. Activity of the enzyme is inhibited, rather than activated, by ligand-bound steroid hormone receptor complexes which only form in the presence of a target ligand. Accordingly, a measured change in a physical property of the reporter construct (e.g. fluorescence output) may be used to determine the presence of a target ligand in a sample under investigation. |