Promoter Studies in Hemostasis

In recent years the technique of gene cloning, coupled with the application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based procedures, has greatly facilitated the production of cloned genomic material encompassing the putative promoter regions of genes involved in the hemostatic process. These recombinant vectors provide the raw material for reporter gene studies and DNA footprinting analysis; two of the three most frequently used in vitro procedures to study promoter function. The third of these methods to be described in this chapter, band shift or electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), normally uses synthetically produced double-stranded oligonucleotide sequences corresponding to specific areas of interest within the promoter region.