PPAR Pathway

The Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors (PPARs) are a group of nuclear receptor proteins that function as transcription factors regulating the expression of genes that play essential roles in the regulation of cellular differentiation, development, metabolism and tumorigenesis. PPARs serve as significant targets for treating metabolic diseases [Ref1].

2. Lentivirus Detects PPAR Pathway:

GenTarget developed a set of reporting lentivirus to monitor PPAR signaling pathway activity. Those reporting lentivirus has a luminescent report (Luciferase) or a fluorescent report (GFP), under a minimal CMV promoter (mCMV) that embedded with optimized tandem repeats of pathway specific PPRE (proliferator response elements) as the transcriptional response element (TRE ), sequence motif (5′- AGGTCAtAGGTCA-GA- AGGTCAtAGGTCA-CC-AGGACAAAGGTCA  3′) [Ref 2].

The PPAR signaling pathway can be activated by different ligands. Each subtype (PPARα, PPARγ, and PPARδ) has distinct ligands, including natural and synthetic compounds, such as Fatty acids, Eicosanoids, Fibrates, Prostaglandins, Thiazolidinediones, Cardarine.

The ligand (natural or synthetic) binds to the specific PPAR subtype. The activated PPAR forms a heterodimer with the Retinoid X Receptor (RXR). The PPAR/RXR heterodimer binds to Peroxisome Proliferator Response Elements (PPREs) in report’s promoter region, leading to increased expression of the reporter protein (luciferase or GFP).

3. Structure of the Reporting Lentivirus:

The pathway specific reporting Lentivirus use either firefly-luciferase or GFP signal changes to detect the pathway’s activity.   Those reporting lentivirus also contains a constitutively expressed Puromycin antibiotic selection marker, or a GFP fluorescent selection marker, which makes it easier to select the stably transduced signal reporting cells, via Puromycin killing or GFP sorting respectively. See lentivector core scheme below.

The premade, ready-to-use reporter lentivirus provides a much easier tool to monitor the activity of the signaling pathways in virtually any mammalian cell type. It also allows to generate your own reporting cell line in your desired cell type for study or screening of pathway specific gene-knockdown, over-expression, or chemical / drug/protein treatment in the cell based assay.

Click the Product Manual (pdf) for all available products for this pathway reporter.