A non-standard trait (e.g. natural competence) is assessed qualitatively (e.g. presence/absence) and used as a natural reporter. The observed phenotype should be described in the experimental notes.

Reporter assay using the beta-galactosidase (lacZ) gene. The lacZ gene is typically fused to the promoter of interest. Differential regulation of the promoter mediated by the TF is assessed by induction of the system and evaluation of lacZ expression. Bacteria expressing lacZ appear blue when grown on a X-gal medium. The assay is often performed using a plasmid borne construction on a lacZ(def) strain.

ChIP-chip (and to a lesser degree ChIP-Seq) results are often validated with ChIP-PCR, in which a PCR with specific primers is performed on the pulled-down DNA. As in the case of RNASeq, there are many variations of these main techniques.

This is a weak form of in-silico search, in which the consensus sequence for the motif is compared to genomic positions and the number of mismatches (between candidate site and consensus) is used as a measure of site-quality.

Target-specific mutation, as opposed to non-specific mutation. In the context of TF-binding sites, site-directed mutagenesis is typically used to establish/confirm the specific sequence and location of a site, often in tandem with EMSA. Different positions of a putative binding site are mutated to non-consensus (or random) bases and binding to the mutated site is evaluated through EMSA or other means. Often implemented only in conserved motif positions or serially through all positions of a site.