AAV with Enh358MCK promoter driven fLuc

This AAV expresses fLuc driven by a muscle Enh358MCK promoter.

Muscle creatine kinase (MCK) is highly active in all striated muscles. MCK is the most abundant non-mitochondrial mRNA that is expressed in all skeletal muscle fiber types and is also highly active in cardiac muscle. The main regulatory regions in the murine MCK gene include a 358 bp proximal promoter and a muscle-specific, 200bp enhancer located approximately 1.1 kb away from the transcription start site. The muscle-specific enhancer contains 2 copies of E-Boxes, which are believed to be critical for the enhancer activity. Enh358MCK (Enh stands for enhancer, and 358MCK stands for the 358bp MCK proximal promoter) is constructed by ligating the ~200bp enhancer with the 358 bp proximal promoter of the murine MCK gene. This artificial promoter of about 0.6 Kb displays more or less the same activity as that of the full length 1.3 Kb MCKpromoter.

Firefly luciferase (fLuc) is an oxidative enzyme used in bioluminescence and is distinct from a photoprotein. In the luciferase reaction, light is emitted when luciferase acts on the appropriate luciferin substrate. Photon emission can be detected by a light-sensitive apparatus such as a luminometer or modified optical microscope. Firefly luciferase is commonly used as a reporter to assess the transcriptional activity in cells.