Firefly Reporter

What is the firefly reporter?

• A famous song published by Owl City in 2009.

  (had to make the joke)

• A lab technique designed to detect DNA damage.

• A lab technique designed to detect gene expression.

• A PCR reaction that must be conducted under 150-200 degrees, thus the name FIREfly.

Which of the following experimental conditions would most likely cause an artificially high luciferase signal, leading to false-positive results in a firefly reporter assay?

• Using a mutated promoter that cannot bind transcription factors

• Co-transfecting cells with a plasmid containing Renilla luciferase for normalization

• Overexpression of a constitutively active transcription factor in the test system

• Omitting the luciferin substrate before measuring luminescence

Which of the following best describes what the intensity of the firefly luciferase signal reflects in a reporter assay?

• The number of mitochondria in the cell
  

• The rate of DNA replication

• The activity of the promoter driving luciferase expression

• How much the cell feels like glowing up today 🌟💅

Naim forgot to include ATP in the luciferase assay reaction mix. What is a possible outcome of the reaction?

• The luciferase enzyme will produce light, but only in the dark.

• The luciferin will still glow from sheer determination.

• It doesn't matter since Dr. Rima is the one that is always glowing.

• Naim gets drowned in concentrated HCl by his lab partners.

The Firefly Luciferase Reporter can be used to detect gene expression via bioluminescence. What other lab technique is the most suitable to detect the QUANTITY of gene expression by the use of light/fluorescence?

• Western Blot

• Gel electrophoresis

• Gram Staining

• Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR)