Promoter Reporter GoClone Collection Control Vectors

SwitchGear offers a number of control constructs to optimize experimental results. Use the Promoter Construct Protocol for transfection of these vectors. We recommend using at least one of each vector described below for best experimental results.

Empty promoter vector: The empty promoter vector contains the luciferase gene without a promoter. This construct serves as a one measure of background signal in the experiment.

Housekeeping gene promoter vectors: Housekeeping control constructs contain promoters for common housekeeping genes driving the luciferase reporter. These constructs serve as positive transfection controls and may also serve as controls for comparing signals between conditions if they are known to be unresponsive to the test condition. See SwitchDB, our online catalog, for details about these vectors.

Random control vectors: Random control constructs contain 1 kb non-conserved, non-genic, and non-repetitive fragments from the human genome cloned upstream of the luciferase reporter. These vectors produce slightly higher signals than the empty vectors and are considered optimal negative or background controls. See SwitchDB, our online catalog, for details about these vectors.

	Figure 1. Expected data and analysis of housekeeping and random promoter vectors: Random promoter constructs (R1, R2, R3, R4) serve as negative/background controls and establish baseline luciferase activity. The housekeeping promoter controls serve as positive controls and give relative luciferase activity.
Y-axis values shown in log scale. Control vector activity may vary depending on cell line, treatment condition, and protocol changes.

SwitchGear also offers a set of eight technical control constructs for larger-scale studies to normalize for plate-to-plate variation. Studies involving multiple plates per condition should include these 8 controls. These plate controls represent a combination of housekeeping and random sequence controls.