Ever spent your Friday night troubleshooting a cloning reaction that just won’t work?
We’ve been there. So have thousands of other scientists. That’s why Promega and Addgene teamed up to create something game-changing: a curated collection of 600+ luciferase reporter vectors, designed to help you skip the cloning and get straight to the data.
Addgene, the nonprofit plasmid-sharing platform trusted by researchers worldwide, and Promega, a global leader in luminescent assay technologies, have joined forces to make your gene expression, pathway analysis, and cell signaling experiments faster, easier, and reproducible.
In this post, we’re spotlighting 5 standout vectors from the new collection that are making life in the lab a whole lot better.
1. CFTR-HiBiT Fusion Vector
This vector enables expression of the wild-type Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) fused with HiBiT in mammalian cells under control of a CMV promoter. CFTR functions as a chloride ion channel, and mutations in its gene are responsible for cystic fibrosis, one of the most prevalent inherited diseases. Membrane stability of CFTR relies on a delicate balance of chaperone activity and post-translational modifications.
By incorporating the HiBiT tag, researchers can quantitatively monitor CFTR protein homeostasis, including trafficking and degradation dynamics, through changes in luminescent signal over time. This approach has been particularly effective in studying proteasomal degradation of CFTR and its regulatory proteins (Kamada et al., 2023). When combined with complementary HiBiT assay formats, such as extracellular or lytic detection, this vector supports both comprehensive and kinetic characterization of CFTR regulation.
Link for the vector: Addgene: CFTR-HiBiT Fusion Vector
2. LgBiT-LentiB3 Transfer Vector
The LgBiT-LentiB3 Transfer Vector is a lentiviral packaging plasmid designed to generate LgBiT-expressing viral particles for stable transduction of HiBiT-tagged cell lines. It provides a flexible backbone for customization with alternative promoters, selection markers, or additional reporters, enabling integration into diverse experimental contexts including CRISPR-based systems. It is a great entry point for creating physiologically relevant systems to study translational biology.
Lentiviral delivery ensures consistent LgBiT expression across a cell population, resulting in more reproducible signals for high-content and kinetic screening applications. It also works great when studying multiple targets or building assay panels, as the HiBiT-tagged protein can be swapped between multiple targets (e.g., Ion channel proteins, GPCRS, or receptors) without large re-optimization required.
Link for the vector: Addgene: LgBiT-LentiB3 Transfer Vector
3. pGloSensor -40F cGMP Vector
The pGloSensor-42F cGMP Vector enables luminescent, real-time monitoring of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling. cGMP serves as a key secondary messenger downstream of receptors such as nitric oxide and natriuretic peptide-activated GPCRs, influencing cardiovascular regulation and organ function in the brain, lung, and liver. Aberrant activity of cGMP signaling has been associated with inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases (Friebe et al., 2020).
Unlike endpoint assays or antibody-based detection, GloSensor™ technology provides live-cell, kinetic detection of intracellular cGMP changes, revealing the timing, amplitude, and duration of signaling events. The direct luminescent readout is ideal for screening agonists, antagonists, or modulators of cGMP-linked pathways. This is valuable for linking downstream responses in cardiovascular and neuroscience research.
Link for the vector: Addgene: pGloSensor -42F cGMP Vector
4. pNL [NlucP/ISRE/Hygro] Vector
This vector drives NanoLuc® luciferase expression under the control of the Interferon-Stimulated Response Element (ISRE). This provides a means to directly measure transcriptional activation downstream of interferon signaling. ISRE sequences are bound by interferon-activated transcription factors such as STAT1 and STAT2, which coordinate antiviral and immune responses (Leviyang, 2021).
Activation of this pathway will result in NanoLuc® expression and can be used to measure how treatment or other biological changes impact interferon activity, which is useful in immunology and virology research. Researchers can use this vector to compare ISRE responses between cell types or screen compounds that modulate interferon signaling. The generation of robust reporter cell models that respond to cytokines are well suited for high-throughput screening of immune modulators, or antiviral candidates.
Link for the vector: Addgene: pNL [NlucP/ISRE/Hygro] Vector
5. ZNRF3-SmBiT, BiBiT-Ready Vector
The ZNRF3-SmBiT BiBiT-Ready Vector expresses Zinc and Ring Finger Protein 3 (ZNRF3) fused with the SmBiT peptide under a CMV promoter. ZNRF3 is a transmembrane E3 ubiquitin ligase that negatively regulates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by promoting endo-lysosomal degradation of the Wnt receptor Frizzled, thereby maintaining proper signaling balance in embryonic development and adult stem cell maintenance (Farnhammer et al., 2023).
Because ZNRF3 is a membrane protein, it is often difficult to quantify using traditional assays. BiBiT (Bidirectional NanoLuc® Binary Interaction Technology) uses stably expressed LgBiT and SmBiT fusion proteins that complement each other to form a fully active NanoLuc® luciferase enzyme, producing a bright luminescent signal, in this case to probe mechanisms of Wnt regulation. This offers a powerful bridge for uncovering how E3 ligases shape protein homeostasis and molecular biology.
Link for the vector: Addgene: ZNRF3-SmBiT, BiBiT-Ready Vector
About the Collection: The Power of Promega + Addgene
The full Promega x Addgene collection includes over 600 luciferase reporters and fusion vectors — targeting key signaling pathways, transcription factor binding elements, and more. Every vector is ready to use, backed by Promega’s luciferase assay expertise, and made accessible through Addgene’s global plasmid-sharing platform.
No more waiting for weeks to clone. No more starting from scratch.
Just search, request, and start lighting up your biology.
Browse the full collection here »
Citations
Farnhammer, F., Colozza, G., & Kim, J. (2023). RNF43 and ZNRF3 in Wnt Signaling – A Master Regulator at the Membrane. In International Journal of Stem Cells (Vol. 16, Issue 4, pp. 376–384). Sungkyunkwan University. https://doi.org/10.15283/IJSC23070
Friebe, A., Sandner, P., & Schmidtko, A. (2020). cGMP: a unique 2nd messenger molecule – recent developments in cGMP research and development. In Naunyn-Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology (Vol. 393, Issue 2, pp. 287–302). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-019-01779-z
Kamada, Y., et al (2023). UBE3C Facilitates the ER-Associated and Peripheral Degradation of Misfolded CFTR. Cells, 12(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12232741
Leviyang, S. (2021). Interferon stimulated binding of ISRE is cell type specific and is predicted by homeostatic chromatin state. Cytokine: X, 3(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cytox.2021.100056
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