The purpose of this technique is to analyze the activity of a gene transcription promoter (in terms of expression of a so-called reporter gene under the regulatory control of that promoter) either in a quantitative manner, involving some measure of activity, or qualitatively (on versus off) through visualization of its activity in different cells, tissues, or organs. The technique utilizes the uidA gene of Escherichia coli, which codes for the enzyme, β-glucuronidase; this enzyme, when incubated with specific colorless or non-fluorescent substrates, can convert them into stable colored or fluorescent products. The presence of the GUS-induced color indicates where the gene has been actively expressed.  In this way, strong promoter activity produces much staining and weak promoter activity produces less staining.
The uidA gene can also be fused to a gene of interest, creating a gene fusion. The insertion of the uidA gene will cause production of GUS, which can then be detected using various glucuronides as substrates.