The RARE Reporter kit is designed to monitor the activity of retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-activated signal transduction pathways in cultured cells. The kit contains transfection-ready RARE reporter construct as well as positive and negative controls. Retinoic Acid, a lipophilic molecule and a metabolite of Vitamin-A (all-trans-Retinol), affects gene transcription and modulates a wide variety of biological processes like Cell Proliferation, Differentiation, and Apoptosis. Retinoic Acid mediated gene transcription depends on the rate of transport of Retinoic Acid to target cells and the timing of exposure of Retinoic Acid to RAR in the target tissues. The RAR-responsive luciferase construct encodes the firefly luciferase reporter gene under the control of a minimal (m)CMV promoter and tandem repeats of the retinoic acid response element (RARE). We have experimentally optimized the number of transcriptional response elements (TRE) as well as the intervening sequence between response elements to maximize the signal to noise ratio. Each reporter is premixed with constitutively expressing Renilla luciferase, which serves as an internal control for normalizing transfection efficiencies and monitoring cell viability.

Using a simple dual-luciferase assay, the RARE Reporter (luc) can easily and rapidly:

• Monitor RAR-regulated signaling pathway activity in cells
• Study chemical compounds or drugs
• Analyze phenotypes of RNAi or gene over expression