A high throughput assay of lichenase activity with Congo red dye in plants.

Background: Since the beginning of the use of reporter proteins for expression analysis, a variety of approaches have been developed and proposed; both qualitative and quantitative. The lack of simple methods for direct observation of gene expression in living organisms makes it necessary to continue to propose new methods. In this work, we consider a method for the quantitative analysis of the expression of thermostable lichenase from Clostridium thermocellum used as a sensitive reporter protein.

TRANSCompel: a database on composite regulatory elements in eukaryotic genes.

Originating from COMPEL, the TRANSCompel database emphasizes the key role of specific interactions between transcription factors binding to their target sites providing specific features of gene regulation in a particular cellular content. Composite regulatory elements contain two closely situated binding sites for distinct transcription factors and represent minimal functional units providing combinatorial transcriptional regulation. Both specific factor--DNA and factor--factor interactions contribute to the function of composite elements (CEs).