Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

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.

Labeling DNA Probes

Labeling DNA Probes

DNA probes are fragments of DNA labeled with a reporter tag to enable their detection or purification. The resulting labeled DNA probes can then hybridize to target nucleic acid sequences through complementary base-pairing, and may be used to recover or identify these regions.
Radioisotopes, fluorophores, or small molecule binding partners like biotin or digoxigenin, are the most widely used reporter tags for labeling DNA probes. These labels can be attached to the probe DNA molecule via...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

HM-DyadCap - capture and mapping of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine/5-methylcytosine CpG dyads in mammalian DNA.

Nucleic acids research·2026

Same author

DNA affects the phenotype of fuel-dependent coacervate droplets.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Unraveling Synthetase's Mode of Action: The Pyrrolysyl-tRNA Synthetase Dimer Uses Secondary Binding Sites in the Cell.

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)·2026

Same author

The role of cytosine modification symmetry in mammalian epigenome regulation.

Chemical science·2026

Same author

Mammalian Proteome Profiling Reveals Readers and Antireaders of Strand-Symmetric and -Asymmetric 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine-Modifications in DNA.

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)·2026

Same author

Protocol for the recovery and deep sequencing of short ssDNA pools from transient, fuel-dependent coacervate droplets.

STAR protocols·2025

Same journal

SqueakPose Studio, an end-to-end platform for pose estimation and real-time edge-AI deployment.

eLife·2026

Same journal

Mechanistic insights into transcriptional regulation of ARHGAP36 expression identify a factor predictive of neuroblastoma survival.

eLife·2026

Same journal

Activity-dependent CO<sub>2</sub> production in the axon triggers opening of Connexin32 in the Schwann cell paranode.

eLife·2026

Same journal

Lipid packing contributes to the confinement of caveolae to the plasma membrane.

eLife·2026

Same journal

A coma pattern-based autofocusing method resolves bacterial cold shock response at single-cell level.

eLife·2026

Same journal

Non-canonical amino acid incorporation enables minimally disruptive labeling of stress granule and TDP-43 proteinopathy.

eLife·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 4, 2026

Determination of In Vitro and Cellular Turn-on Kinetics for Fluorogenic RNA Aptamers

Determination of In Vitro and Cellular Turn-on Kinetics for Fluorogenic RNA Aptamers

Published on: August 9, 2022

Intracellular expression of a fluorogenic DNA aptamer using retron Eco2.

Mahesh A Vibhute¹, Corbin Machatzke¹, Saskia Krümpel¹

¹Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany.

|March 3, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers used the bacterial retron system to express DNA aptamers within living cells. This method enables the biosynthesis of functional aptamer constructs in bacteria, overcoming challenges for intracellular applications.

Keywords:

E. coli aptamer biochemistry chemical biology retrons ssDNA

More Related Videos

Internalization and Observation of Fluorescent Biomolecules in Living Microorganisms via Electroporation

Internalization and Observation of Fluorescent Biomolecules in Living Microorganisms via Electroporation

Published on: February 8, 2015

Split Hybridization Probe Utilizing a DNA Fluorescent Light-up Aptamer as a Signal Reporter for Sequence-Specific Nucleic Acid Analysis

Split Hybridization Probe Utilizing a DNA Fluorescent Light-up Aptamer as a Signal Reporter for Sequence-Specific Nucleic Acid Analysis

Published on: July 8, 2025

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 4, 2026

Determination of In Vitro and Cellular Turn-on Kinetics for Fluorogenic RNA Aptamers

Determination of In Vitro and Cellular Turn-on Kinetics for Fluorogenic RNA Aptamers

Published on: August 9, 2022

Internalization and Observation of Fluorescent Biomolecules in Living Microorganisms via Electroporation

Internalization and Observation of Fluorescent Biomolecules in Living Microorganisms via Electroporation

Published on: February 8, 2015

Split Hybridization Probe Utilizing a DNA Fluorescent Light-up Aptamer as a Signal Reporter for Sequence-Specific Nucleic Acid Analysis

Split Hybridization Probe Utilizing a DNA Fluorescent Light-up Aptamer as a Signal Reporter for Sequence-Specific Nucleic Acid Analysis

Published on: July 8, 2025

Area of Science:

Molecular Biology
Biotechnology
Synthetic Biology

Background:

DNA aptamers are versatile molecules for therapeutics and diagnostics.
Intracellular applications of aptamers are limited by challenges in in vivo expression.
Bacterial retron systems offer potential for in vivo DNA synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the feasibility of using the bacterial retron system for intracellular DNA aptamer expression.
To demonstrate the biosynthesis of functional DNA aptamers within *Escherichia coli*.

Main Methods:

Employed the Eco2 retron system in *Escherichia coli*.
Engineered structure-guided insertion of a DNA light-up aptamer into the retron's non-coding region.
Analyzed aptamer activity after intracellular synthesis and purification.

Main Results:

Confirmed successful reverse transcription and biosynthesis of functional aptamer constructs via the retron system.
Intracellularly synthesized DNA aptamers exhibited comparable activity to chemically synthesized controls.
Demonstrated the potential for aptamer expression within living bacterial cells.

Conclusions:

Retrons can be effectively utilized for expressing short DNA aptamers in living cells.
This approach broadens the potential applications of aptamers in intracellular settings.
Optimized intracellular aptamer expression may enhance therapeutic and diagnostic strategies.