Patent ID: 6605431
Filing Date: 2003-08-12
Classification: C12Q

Abstract:
A method for detecting whether a compound alters transcription of a transcription unit, the method comprising:providing in a reaction mixture a first polynucleotide comprising a first promoter operably linked to a transcription unit, wherein the first promoter comprises an accessory promoter element and a core promoter element, wherein the accessory promoter element is selected from the group consisting of a distal accessory promoter element, a proximal accessory promoter element, and a combined accessory promoter element, and wherein the reaction mixture comprises at least one RNA polymerase; adding an amount of the compound to be tested to the reaction mixture under conditions effective to cause transcription; detecting an amount of a transcription product; and comparing the amount of the transcription product in the presence of the compound to an amount of the transcription product in the absence of the compound under the same conditions, wherein the compound does not alter the amount of a transcription product from a second polynucleotide, the second polynucleotide comprising a second promoter operably linked to the same transcription unit that is operably linked to the first promoter, the second promoter consisting of the same core promoter element of the first promoter.