Patent ID: 7244613

Claim:
A recombinant screening, cloning, or expression vector that replicates in mycobacteria and that contains: 1) a replicon, which is functional in mycobacteria; 2) a selectable marker; 3) a reporter cassette comprising: a) a multiple cloning site (polylinker), b) optionally a transcription terminator, which is active in mycobacteria, upstream of the polylinker, c) a coding nucleotide sequence, which is derived from a gene encoding a protein expression, export and/or secretion marker, said nucleotide sequence lacking its initiation codon and its regulatory sequences, and d) a coding nucleotide sequence derived from a gene encoding a marker for the activity of promoters, which are contained in the same fragment, said nucleotide sequence having its initiation codon, wherein the coding nucleotide sequence derived from a gene encoding a protein expression, export and/or secretion marker is a coding sequence derived from alkaline phosphatase phoA gene.