The CRE/CREB Reporter kit is designed for monitoring the activity of the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway in cultured cells. The kit contains transfection-ready CRE luciferase reporter. This reporter contains the firefly luciferase gene under the control of multimerized cAMP response element (CRE) located upstream of a minimal promoter. Elevation of the intracellular cAMP level activates cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) to bind CRE and induces the expression of luciferase. The CRE reporter is premixed with constitutively-expressing Renilla (sea pansy) luciferase vector that serves as an internal control for transfection efficiency. The kit also includes a non-inducible firefly luciferase vector premixed with the constitutivelyexpressing Renilla luciferase vector as a negative control. The non-inducible luciferase vector contains the firefly luciferase gene under the control of a minimal promoter, but without any additional response elements. The negative control is critical to determining pathway-specific effects and background luciferase activity.
