Table 2.

Comparison of reporter gene delivery and expression strategies.

Technique	Description	Add’l Requirements	Pros/Cons
Transfection	Insertion of plasmid DNA only; genomic integration occurs at a low frequency	None	↓ Transient (X-Y days)
Transposon	Use a co-transfected transposase to insert the reporter into genome (Cadinanos and Bradley, 2007; Geurts et al., 2003)	Transposase plasmid	↑ Stable integration with high efficiency in transfected cells ↓ Limited by transfection frequency of target cell
Retrovirus	Use retroviral particles to insert the reporter into the genome (Cepko and Pear, 2001)	Packaging cell line Viral packaging plasmids Filtration devices Polybrene	↑ Stable integration ↑ High efficiency in a broad range of target cells ↓ Virus handling
CRISPR	Introduce a fluorescent protein under the control of a genomic promoter of interest. (Dickinson et al., 2013)	Cas9 Homology plasmid	↑ Stable integration ↑ Targeted insertion ↓ Low success rate