A new cat reporter gene vector designed for rapid and efficient cloning of PCR products.

A cat reporter gene plasmid was constructed, which can be used very efficiently to clone PCR-derived promotor and enhancer fragments from genomic DNA. The new vector system pEK0CAT combines the efficiency in cloning with the approved low background of the pBLCAT6 vector. Additionally, the plasmid pEKSVCAT was constructed including the SV40 early promoter/enhancer to efficiently drive the cat reporter gene in particular cell lines. It can be used to optimize transfection conditions and as an internal positive control.