The beta-galactosidase assay is commonly used as a reporter, to monitor transfection efficiency, and for promoter/enhancer studies. We offer two ways to detect LacZ gene activity: a colorimetric beta-galactosidase staining kit and a chemiluminescent beta-galactosidase assay.

• Colorimetric assay: The Beta-Galactosidase Staining Kit is a complete system for colorimetric detection of beta-galactosidase expression in mammalian cells. In this kit, beta-galactosidase (the product of the LacZ gene) catalyzes the hydrolysis of X-gal to produce a blue color that is easily visualized. Simply fix, wash, and incubate your cells with the X-Gal Staining Mix. Then use a light microscope to look for the blue stain.
• Chemiluminescent assay: The Luminescent Beta-Galactosidase Reporter System 3 (which includes vectors; see below) and Detection Kit II (reagents only) provide quantitative measurement of beta-gal activity using a chemiluminescent substrate. The chemiluminescent signal is stable over several hours and can be detected by a scintillation counter, tube and plate luminometers, or by x-ray film exposure.

LacZ vectors

Beta-galactosidase is the product of the LacZ gene. We offer three beta-gal mammalian reporter vectors containing the LacZ gene. The vectors provide maximal flexibility in analyzing the effects of cis-regulatory elements on gene expression. They can also be used to normalize transfection efficiencies.

• pBeta-Gal-Basic (sold separately as pLacZ-Basic) lacks eukaryotic promoter and enhancer sequences and can serve as a negative control or to clone promoters for characterization.
• pBeta-Gal-Control (sold separately as pLacZ-Control) contains the SV40 promoter and enhancer sequences and can be used as a positive control or as a reference for comparing the activities of promoters and enhancers.
• pCMV-LacZ is a constitutive mammalian reporter vector which expresses extremely high levels of beta-galactosidase from the human cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter (P_{CMV IE}) and can be used as a reference or control plasmid. Beta-galactosidase activity can be detected with the Luminescent Beta-galactosidase Detection Kit II.

Complete beta-gal reporter system

The Luminescent Beta-galactosidase Reporter System 3 includes the chemiluminescent beta-galactosidase assay reagents plus the pBeta-Gal-Basic and pBeta-Gal-Control vectors.