High-Resolution CCD Camera and Luminometer for High-Throughput Luciferase-Based Analyses

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This award supports purchase of two systems to be used to localize and measure luciferase activity resulting from expression of chimeric reporter genes that consist of the luciferase gene fused to a promoter region of the genome. Such fusions are now routinely used as a convenient, though indirect, measure of gene regulation, and of the timing and localization of the expression of specific genes within an organism. One of the systems can acquire, process and analyze photons emitted by active luciferase. This system will be used primarily to follow time-course changes in gene expression in vivo, through the use of transgenic plants expressing specific promoter-luciferase reporter genes. The second system is a high throughput 96-well plate reader designed to allow rapid, automated measurements of luminescence in cell extracts. This instrument will be used for transient gene expression assays employing various cells lines. The two will be used by five investigators drawn from four academic departments. Their research includes studies of the molecular genetics of the circadian clock in Arabidopsis, the genetic regulation of sugar sensing in plants, the regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis and small molecular trafficking in maize, the molecular machinery of cell plate formation in plants, and the regulation of circadian clock gene transcription in mammalian cell culture. In addition, the equipment will be used in the research training of graduate postdoctoral students and incorporated into an existing undergraduate laboratory techniques course. The equipment will thus enhance student training at all levels in modern in vivo imaging and luminescence-based techniques.