Gene and Operon Fusions

Gene and operon fusions provide means to easily study the expression of genes. Rather than directly measuring the protein of interest, the gene encoding this protein is replaced with a reporter gene, encoding as easily assayable product. Fusions are of two types: transcriptional and translational. In transcriptional fusions, also called operon fusions, expression of the reporter gene is dependent on the promoter of the target gene. In translational or gene fusions, the reporter is fused in frame with the gene of interest. Expression is dependent on both transcription and translation of the target gene and results in the production of a hybrid protein.