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Reporter Genes

Reporter Genes

Reporter genes are a type of protein-coding gene that are often tagged to a gene of interest. Once inside a target cell, reporter genes usually produce visually identifiable characteristics like fluorescence and luminescence when expressed along with the gene of interest. Thus, reporter genes “report” the presence or absence of genes of interest in an organism, determine the gene expression pattern, or track the physical location of a DNA segment or protein in the cell.
Commonly used reporter...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 24, 2026

Radionuclide-fluorescence Reporter Gene Imaging to Track Tumor Progression in Rodent Tumor Models

Radionuclide-fluorescence Reporter Gene Imaging to Track Tumor Progression in Rodent Tumor Models

Published on: March 13, 2018

Imaging molecular pathways: reporter genes.

John Brogan¹, Fang Li, Wenrong Li

¹Department of Dermatology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

Radiation Research

|February 22, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Molecular imaging advances enable non-invasive study of tumor biology in vivo. This review focuses on natural reporters like bioluminescence and fluorescence for visualizing cancer pathways.

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Area of Science:

Oncology
Molecular Biology
Biomedical Imaging

Background:

Molecular imaging offers non-invasive insights into tumor cell and whole tumor biology.
Recent advancements facilitate in vivo study of complex biological processes within tumors.

Purpose of the Study:

To review novel molecular imaging approaches for in vivo tumor research.
To highlight the visualization and quantification of key cancer pathways.
To focus on natural reporters like bioluminescence and fluorescent proteins.

Main Methods:

Review of recent literature on molecular imaging techniques.
Focus on applications utilizing bioluminescence and fluorescent proteins.
Discussion of methods for visualizing and quantifying molecular pathways in vivo.

Main Results:

Novel imaging approaches allow visualization of receptor tyrosine kinase activation, hypoxia, apoptosis, and DNA double-strand breaks.
Natural reporters (bioluminescence, fluorescence) provide effective tools for in vivo molecular imaging.
Demonstration of applications for studying critical tumor biological processes.

Conclusions:

Molecular imaging, particularly with natural reporters, is a powerful tool for cancer research.
These techniques enhance understanding of tumor biology and molecular pathways in vivo.
Continued advancements promise deeper insights into cancer mechanisms.