9 Reporter Genes and their Use in Studying Yeast Gene Expression

This chapter focuses on reporter genes and their use in studying yeast gene expression. Reporter genes have been established as valuable tools for the investigation of individual steps of eukaryotic gene expression. Typically, the sequences to be analyzed for regulatory function are combined with the reading frame of a reporter gene whose product can be readily assayed quantitatively. The effects of the sequence under study on specific steps of the yeast expression pathway are monitored via the reporter gene activity. The reporter gene systems can have a wide range of applications. In terms of monitoring gene function, these include the identification and characterization of sequences that influence transcription, pre-mRNA processing, and mRNA translation and decay. The chapter describes a range of reporter gene systems and the way they can be applied in the study of yeast gene expression. It focuses on the principles involved and provides illustrative examples. The coverage of the chapter is restricted to reporter genes that encode products subject to convenient and quantitative methods of detection. “The yeast” referred to in the chapter is Sacchromyces cerevisiae, although some of the methods and strategies discussed can be used with other yeast species also.