An in vivo dual-reporter system of cyanobacteria using two railroad-worm luciferases with different color emissions

In vivo genetic reporter systems using luciferase enzymes enable the real-time monitoring of gene expression in living cells. We have challenged concurrent monitoring of two independent promoter activities within the same cells to precisely compare their characteristics in vivo. In this report, we describe a simple dual-reporter system capable of simultaneously monitoring two promoter activities in living cyanobacterial cells. Two railroad-worm luciferases catalyzing the bioluminescent emissions of different colors served as the dual reporters; each emission was successfully separated by interference filters to estimate the individual bioluminescence signals using photomultiplier tubes. Using this system, we clearly demonstrated the difference in the expression profiles between promoters in the same cells.