Luciferase reporter assays are widely used in biomedical research for multiple applications such as gene expression, intracellular signalling, drug screening and immune-based assays. These assays investigate whether a protein can activate or repress the expression of a target gene using luciferase as a reporter protein.
Compared to single luciferase reporter, dual luciferase assay offers enhanced accuracy and precision by using a co-reporter to normalize the signal of the primary reporter. This ratio metric readout minimizes false-positive/negative results caused by well-to-well variations in cell number and health, transfection efficiency and nonspecific cellular responses.
At o2h, we offer both commercial and custom-tailored luciferase reporter assays to support our collaborator’s drug discovery programs. Our scientists provide bespoke assay development for studying challenging target proteins by optimizing various reporter assay parameters such as
- Choice of luciferase reporters
- Assay development chemistry
- End-point or kinetic reporter detection
- Single or dual-reporter assays
Our team can generate stable cell lines, expressing the desired luciferase reporter gene constructs for studying transcriptional regulation in an endogenous setting. These reporter assays can be combined with other studies to assess apoptosis, metabolism, and diverse cellular functions.
Figure 1. Dual luciferase reporter assay validation and compound screening. Representative dose-response curves of compounds with different potencies, measured by the proportional dose-dependent reduction of the firefly:renilla luciferase luminescence ratio. The firefly luciferase was cloned downstream of the gene of interest, expressed in target cells and the luciferase activity measured via bioluminescence produced by substrate oxidation. Renilla luciferase was used as an internal control. Data was normalized to that of the DMSO control and expressed as mean + SEM.
To know more about our biology services offering or to request our brochure, please reach out to us at discovery@o2h.com.
