Luciferin-containing substrates are provided including a substrate and luciferin dried on the substrate. The luciferin-containing substrate is free of a detectable amount of reactive luciferase. The substrate is optionally a nonwoven substrate. Monitoring devices are also provided. The monitoring devices include a test element having a test portion, a detection reagent comprising luciferase, a luciferin-containing substrate, and a container having a first end with an opening and a second end opposite the first end. The container is configured to receive the test portion and configured to be operationally coupled to an analytical instrument. The detection reagent and the luciferin each are capable of participating in one or more chemical reaction that results in the formation of a detectable product.

Provided herein are inhibitor-resistant luciferase mutants, and methods of use thereof. In particular, luciferase mutants are provided that are thermal stable and exhibit improved stability in the presence of luciferin break-down products, such as dehydroluciferin. Further provided are assay systems comprising inhibitor-resistant luciferase mutants and amino acid sequences of the inhibitor-resistant luciferase mutants.

A polynucleotide encoding a modified luciferase polypeptide. The modified luciferase polypeptide has at least 60% amino acid sequence identity to a wild-type Oplophorus luciferase and includes at least one amino acid substitution at a position corresponding to an amino acid in a wild-type Oplophorus luciferase of SEQ ID NO: 1. The modified luciferase polypeptide has at least one of enhanced luminescence, enhanced signal stability, and enhanced protein stability relative to the wild-type Oplophorus luciferase.

The present disclosure relates, in general, to a fusion protein construct comprising RNase L and a split reporter system, and methods of using the reporter for detecting 2′-5′ linked oligoadenylates (2-5A) and double stranded RNA in vivo.

Disclosed is a method for purifying a protein, comprising steps of: preparing a sample containing a fusion protein containing an amino acid sequence of a peptide tag and an amino acid sequence of a target protein; and separating contaminant proteins contained with the fusion protein in the sample and the fusion protein in the sample, wherein the peptide tag contains 12 or more acidic amino acid residues.

A polynucleotide encoding a modified luciferase polypeptide. The modified luciferase polypeptide has at least 60% amino acid sequence identity to a wild-type Oplophorus luciferase and includes at least one amino acid substitution at a position corresponding to an amino acid in a wild-type Oplophorus luciferase of SEQ ID NO:1. The modified luciferase polypeptide has at least one of enhanced luminescence, enhanced signal stability, and enhanced protein stability relative to the wild-type Oplophorus luciferase.

Efficient sequence specific gene silencing is possible through the use of siRNA technology. By selecting particular siRNAs by rational design, one can maximize the generation of an effective gene silencing reagent, as well as methods for silencing genes. Methods, compositions, and kits generated through rational design of siRNAs are disclosed including those directed to nucleotide sequences for TTR.

A method for establishing an animal model of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) bone metastasis, the method including: 1) establishing 97H and LM3 cell clones with stable expression of firefly luciferase (LUC); 2) allowing HCC cells to form bone metastasis in nude mice via intratibial injection; 3) reproducing HCC bone metastasis in nude mice via intracardiac injection of tumor cells; and 4) isolating a sub-population of tumor cells that targets metastasis to bone. The 97H and the LM3 are highly metastatic HCC cell lines transfected with luciferase gene. BALB/cA-nu mice are 4-5 weeks old and maintained in laminar flow cabinets under SPF conditions and received human care throughout an entire study. A cell number for intratibial injection is 0.5×10.sup.6, and a cell number for intracardiac injection is 1×10.sup.6.

The invention relates to the nucleotide and amino acid sequences, and to the activity and use, of the luciferases LuAL, Lu164, Lu16, Lu39, Lu45, Lu52 and Lu22.

A target protein is prepared as soluble protein using a recombinant protein expression system. An expression vector is used that includes (1) an expression-inducible promoter sequence; (2) a first coding sequence including a polynucleotide coding for a polypeptide that is represented by the formula (Z).sub.n; and (3) a second coding sequence that includes a polynucleotide that codes for a target protein. A method of producing the target protein is also used that includes expressing protein using this expression vector.