Team:Tuebingen/Notebook/Journal

Receptor: For simplification we denote the membranous progestin receptors (mPR) of Danio rerio and Xenopus laevis as "Receptor". One important property of the progestin receptor is its abilitiy to inhibit the FET3 gene promoter when progestin binds to the receptor. Since the Receptor serves as a sensor for progestins it is a very crucial element in our measurement system.

Inverter: The progestin receptors inhibit the promoter of the FET3 gene (Pfet3) when progestin is present in the cell's medium. In order to receive a positive feedback when progestin is detected we need to invert the receptor signal. Therefore we have combined Pfet3 with a repressor that represses the promotor of our reporter.

Reporter: Our aim is the construction of an easy-to-use measurement system. Therefore we decided to use a reporter that delivers optical feedback which then can be quantified with an inexpensive photometer. Thus luciferase (LUC) serves as a reporter for our measurement system.