MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs of 21-24 nucleotides in length that modulate gene expression by targeting the untranslated region (UTR) of mRNA. This protocol is to be used to test the binding and activity of miRNA on putative UTR target sequences. It is based on the expression of Luciferase as a reporter gene fused to the UTR sequence in the presence of plasmids containing pre-miRNA of interest or synthetic miRNA to test in an in vitro cell culture assay.