Pierce™ Gaussia Luciferase Glow Assay Kit, 100 Reactions - FAQs

Here are possible causes and solutions:

- Non-specific oxidation of substrate: Use less serum in the cell culture media; Note: Albumin can increase the auto-oxidation of Vargulin; Avoid repeated freezing and thawing of the sample.
- Control sample is contaminated: Use new sample; Change pipette tips after each well.

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This could be due to high luciferase expression. Here are some suggestions:

Reduce incubation time before collecting samples. 

Decrease the integration time on the instrument.

Dilute the sample: for secreted Gaussia/Cypridina Luciferase, dilute the sample using media from the cell culture; for cell lysate, dilute the sample using lysis buffer 

Note: A low sample volume can increase assay variability. Dilute the sample and use the recommended volume of 10-20 µL per assay.

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Here are possible causes and solutions:

- Non-optimized lysis buffer used: Assay luciferase activity in the media to confirm good expression of luciferase; Use only the provided lysis buffer.
- Low luciferase expression: Lyse cells in smaller volume of 1X Cell Lysis Buffer; Use a different promoter or growth conditions to improve expression; Increase the integration time on the instrument; Scale up volume of sample and reagent per well.

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Here are possible causes and solutions:

- Insufficient luciferase accumulation in media: Incubate cells for a longer time.
- Low luciferase expression: Use less media per well during the experiment;.Use a different promoter or growth conditions to improve expression;.Increase the integration time on the instrument;.Scale-up the volume of sample and reagent per well.
- Treatment interfered with cellular secretory pathway: Transfect cells with a plasmid for constitutive expression of Luciferase (i.e., with pTK or pCMV promoter); Determine if luciferase actively expresses in media without treatment. Add treatment; Determine if there is a corresponding drop in luciferase activity from the constitutively expressed plasmid.

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Here are possible causes and solutions:

- Low transfection efficiency: Optimize transfection conditions using a visual transfection control (e.g., a plasmid over-expressing a fluorescent protein); Verify plasmid DNA quality - use only transfection grade DNA; Use actively dividing, low passage cells; Use a different cell type.
- No or low promoter activity: Use conditions known for promoter activation; Incubate cells for a longer time; Change growth conditions to improve expression; Use a different promoter.
- Substrate auto-oxidized: Protect substrate from light and air; Maintain 100X Coelenterazine at -80 degrees C; maintain 100X Vargulin at -80 degrees C; Prepare new Coelenterazine Working Solution if used longer than 8 hours; Prepare new Vargulin Working Solution if used longer than 2 hours

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All Luciferase Glow Assay Working Solutions should be stored protected from light.

Renilla Luciferase Glow Assay Working Solution must be stored at room temperature (20-25°C) before use and is stable for up to 8 hours at room temperature.

Gaussia Luciferase Glow Assay Working Solution must be stored at room temperature (20-25°C) before use and is stable for up to 4 hours at room temperature. 

Cypridina Luciferase Glow Assay Working Solution must be stored at room temperature (20-25°C) before use and is stable for up to 2 hours at room temperature.

Firefly Luciferase Glow Assay Working Solution must be stored at room temperature (20-25°C) before use and is stable for 4 hours at room temperature. For long term use, store at -20 degrees C for up to 2 months.

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For Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS), there is no difference between 10% and 5% FBS. It is worthwhile to note that the type of serum does affect the luciferase assay. We tested the effect of 6 different types of sera (FBS, heat-inactivated FBS, dialyzed FBS, charcoal-treated FBS, donor adult bovine serum, and donor equine serum) on secreted luciferases, e.g. Gaussia, Gaussia-Dura, and Cypridina Luciferases. No noticeable difference was observed among different types of sera except for donor adult bovine serum. Unknown factors in donor adult bovine serum caused up to 35% inhibition in secreted luciferase activity. Therefore, we don’t recommend using donor adult bovine serum for Gaussia, Gaussia-Dura, and Cypridina Luciferases.

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The problems with white plates are related to cross-talk blocking, surface reflectivity and tendency to phosphorescence. We do not recommend using white plates because they give much higher background even if adapted to darkness for 10 minutes. The white plastic does not block the light completely, and some portion of the signal will go through the plastic and will be seen when you measure adjacent wells. The typical situation is if you change from black to white plates, where the background is about doubled and the signal is increased about 10 times. Black plates are recommend for best signal to noise ratio even though the RLU values will be lower. 

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TurboLuc Luciferase One-Step Glow Assay Kit measures activity in mammalian cells with a single reagent-addition step, making it ideal for high-throughput screening (HTS) applications. Several features of the TurboLuc Luciferase One-Step Glow Assay Kit make it suitable for luminometers without injectors and for HTS applications. The convenient, one-step, homogenous protocol minimizes handling steps to support the use of automation. Simply combine the supplied substrate solution and assay buffer to make a single working solution, and then add it to microplate containing the transfected, treated cells. The stable signal output (glow enzyme kinetics) of this system provides flexibility with regard to lead time before read. When used with Thermo Scientific TurboLuc 16 Luciferase vectors, the TurboLuc Luciferase One-Step Glow Assay Kit provides a highly sensitive bioluminescent reporter assay system for the detection of promoter or pathway activity.

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Gaussia, Gaussia-Dura, and Cypridina Luciferase are stable in the culture media for greater than 24 hours. Generally, after transfection of CMV driven constructs, we see ever increasing secreted signal between 24 and 72 hours.

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The earliest detectable signal will depend on the strength of the promoter. In general, with a strong promoter (such as CMV), significant signal over background can be seen in as little as 20 minutes. However, with a weaker inducible promoter, significant signal over background may take 1-2 hours after induction.

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We always recommend the luciferases to be read without filters for single luciferase assays. Use of filters reduces the amount of signal captured that may lead to decrease in sensitivity. Filters are required only for dual-spectral assays.

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Gaussia and Cypridina Luciferase assays can be tested on both media and cell lysate sample types. Renilla and Firefly Luciferase assays can only be used on cell lysate as a sample type. 

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We offer the following luciferase assays (each available in Glow and Flash formats) that provide a highly sensitive assay for transcriptional activity of regulatory elements in mammalian cell culture media and whole cell lysate:

- Thermo Scientific Pierce Gaussia Luciferase assays provide a highly sensitive system for detecting intracellular and secreted luciferase activity from promoter or pathway activation in mammalian cell culture experiments. Gaussia luciferase has greater protein stability and signal brightness than native Firefly or Renilla luciferase. The bioluminescent signal produced by Gaussia luciferase results from the oxidation of coelenterazine. This reaction does not require adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or other cofactors. The light output correlates with the amount of Gaussia protein expressed, which is proportional to the activity of the promoter for Gaussia expression.
Note: Gaussia luciferase is a ~22 kDa protein.

- Thermo Scientific Pierce Renilla Luciferase assays provide a highly sensitive system for detecting intracellular luciferase activity from promoter or pathway activation in mammalian cell culture experiments. The bioluminescent signal produced by green Renilla luciferase results from the oxidation of coelenterazine. This reaction does not require adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or other cofactors. The light output correlates with the amount of green Renilla protein expressed, which is proportional to the activity of the promoter for green Renilla expression.
Note: Unlike Gaussia and Cypridina, Green Renilla Luciferase can only be assayed in cell lysates as it is not secreted into the cell culture media. Green Renilla luciferase is a ~36 kDa protein.

- Thermo Scientific Pierce Cypridina Luciferase assays provide a highly sensitive system for detecting intracellular and secreted luciferase activity from promoter or pathway activation in mammalian cell culture experiments. The Cypridina luciferase protein is highly secreted into the cell culture media, allowing for live cell monitoring of reporter activity. Cypridina luciferase has greater protein stability and signal brightness than native firefly or Renilla luciferase. The bioluminescent signal produced by Cypridina luciferase results from the oxidation of vargulin. This reaction does not require adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or other cofactors. The light output correlates with the amount of Cypridina protein expressed, which is proportional to the activity of the promoter for Cypridina expression.
Note: Cypridina luciferase is a 61kDa protein.

- Thermo Scientific Pierce Firefly Luciferase Assays provide a highly sensitive system for detecting intracellular luciferase activity from promoter or pathway activation in mammalian cell culture experiments. The bioluminescent signal produced by firefly luciferase results from the oxidation of D-Luciferin. The light output correlates with the amount of firefly protein expressed, which is proportional to the activity of the promoter for firefly expression.
Note: Unlike Gaussia and Cypridina, Firefly Luciferase can only be assayed in cell lysates as it is not secreted into the cell culture media.
Note: Firefly luciferase is a ~60 kDa protein produced in nature by several species of the Lampyridae family of beetles which includes the genera Photinus and Luciola.

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Our qIP Luciferase assay kits have been discontinued but we do carry epitope-tagged (HA or c-Myc) and Tluc (TurboLuc luciferase)-tagged mammalian expression vectors, and qIP protein interaction assay reagents for these assay kits.

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