Use of a luciferase reporter system for characterizing G-protein-linked receptors

Abstract During the past few years, the molecular cloning of G-protein-linked receptors has revealed new opportunities for their study. Functional coupling of the seven transmembrane domain receptors to reporter genes has assisted in the molecular and pharmacological characterization of these receptors, in the evaluation of signal transduction pathways, in the cloning of new receptor subtypes, and in the development of advanced drug screening systems based on functional assays.