Receptor Reporter Systems

Abstract

AbstractReceptor‐linked reporter systems allow the study of pharmacological properties of known receptors, identification of new receptor subtypes, examination of the specific signal transduction pathways linked to receptor activation, and development of functional assays. Reporter systems provide high‐throughput screening methods that allow researchers to expeditiously identify and characterize compounds that modulate the activities of therapeutically relevant receptors or influence events downstream of receptor activation. This unit provides two representative protocols for coupling cell‐surface receptors to reporter molecules that signal receptor activation. The first is a luciferase‐based assay and the second uses green fluorescent protein (GFP). This unit provides a comparison of several reporter assays as well as reporter systems that rely on chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity.