Patent ID: 8097431

Claim:
A method for detecting steroids comprising the steps of: (a) providing a host cell transformed with a reporter gene and a tripartite construct, said tripartite construct encoding a ligand binding domain (LBD) wherein said LBD is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:5, and SEQ ID NO:7, operably linked to both a DNA binding domain (DBD) comprising SEQ ID NO:1 and an activation domain (AD) comprising SEQ ID NO:9, wherein said host cell expresses said reporter gene upon binding of the LBD to generate a detectable signal; (b) contacting said host cell with a mammalian sample to be screened for a compound that binds to said LBD, wherein the contacting is in vitro; and (c) detecting the presence of the signal generated by expression of said reporter gene in order to detect the amount of steroids present in the sample.