β-catenin (β-cat) is a key signaling component of the canonical Wnt pathway as well as an increasingly studied contributor to various pathways that regulate cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. To enable direct monitoring of post-translational stabilization of β-cat in cells and living animals, we constructed and characterized the bioluminescent fusion reporters, β-cat firefly luciferase (β-cat-FLuc) and β-cat click beetle green luciferase (β-cat-CBG). These reporters provided real-time, non-invasive readout of modulators of β-cat stability in cellulo (Figure 1) and furthermore, enabled monitoring of changes in total β-cat levels in vivo in intact animals (Figure 2). |
