scholarly journals Mechanism and bottlenecks in strand photodissociation of split green fluorescent proteins (GFPs)

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (11) ◽  
pp. E2146-E2155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi-Yun Lin ◽  
Johan Both ◽  
Keunbong Do ◽  
Steven G. Boxer
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Yield ◽  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Photoactive Yellow Protein ◽  
Green Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Protein Protein Interactions ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Rate Limiting

Split GFPs have been widely applied for monitoring protein–protein interactions by expressing GFPs as two or more constituent parts linked to separate proteins that only fluoresce on complementing with one another. Although this complementation is typically irreversible, it has been shown previously that light accelerates dissociation of a noncovalently attached β-strand from a circularly permuted split GFP, allowing the interaction to be reversible. Reversible complementation is desirable, but photodissociation has too low of an efficiency (quantum yield <1%) to be useful as an optogenetic tool. Understanding the physical origins of this low efficiency can provide strategies to improve it. We elucidated the mechanism of strand photodissociation by measuring the dependence of its rate on light intensity and point mutations. The results show that strand photodissociation is a two-step process involving light-activated cis-trans isomerization of the chromophore followed by light-independent strand dissociation. The dependence of the rate on temperature was then used to establish a potential energy surface (PES) diagram along the photodissociation reaction coordinate. The resulting energetics–function model reveals the rate-limiting process to be the transition from the electronic excited-state to the ground-state PES accompanying cis-trans isomerization. Comparisons between split GFPs and other photosensory proteins, like photoactive yellow protein and rhodopsin, provide potential strategies for improving the photodissociation quantum yield.

scholarly journals Split Green Fluorescent Proteins: Scope, Limitations, and Outlook

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Romei ◽  
Steven G. Boxer
Keyword(s):  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Green Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Protein Protein Interactions ◽  
Functional Protein ◽  
Covalent Linkage ◽  
Photophysical Studies ◽  
Green Fluorescent

Many proteins can be split into fragments that spontaneously reassemble, without covalent linkage, into a functional protein. For split green fluorescent proteins (GFPs), fragment reassembly leads to a fluorescent readout, which has been widely used to investigate protein–protein interactions. We review the scope and limitations of this approach as well as other diverse applications of split GFPs as versatile sensors, molecular glues, optogenetic tools, and platforms for photophysical studies.

Protein Microarrays to Detect Protein–Protein Interactions Using Red and Green Fluorescent Proteins

2002 ◽  
Vol 306 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Kukar ◽  
Sarah Eckenrode ◽  
Yunrong Gu ◽  
Wei Lian ◽  
Mike Megginson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Protein Microarrays ◽  
Green Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Protein Protein Interactions ◽  
Green Fluorescent

scholarly journals Strategies to improve the fluorescent signal of the tripartite sfGFP system

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 998-1006
Author(s):  
Jing Shen ◽  
Wenlu Zhang ◽  
Chunyang Gan ◽  
Xiafei Wei ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation ◽  
Fluorescence Signal ◽  
Recovery Efficiency ◽  
Good Recovery ◽  
Protein Protein Interactions ◽  
Bifc Assay ◽  
Green Fluorescent

Abstract Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) is a popular method used to detect protein–protein interactions. For a BiFC assay, a fluorescent protein is usually split into two parts, and the fluorescence is recovered upon the interaction between the fused proteins of interest. As an elegant extension of BiFC, a tripartite superfold green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) system that has the advantages of low background fluorescence and small fusion tag size has been developed. However, the tripartite system exhibits a low fluorescence signal in some cases. To address this problem, we proposed to increase the affinity between the two parts, G1–9 and G11, of the tripartite system by adding affinity pairs. Among the three affinity pairs tested, LgBiT-HiBiT improved both the signal and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio to the greatest extent. More strikingly, the direct covalent fusion of G11 to G1–9, which converted the tripartite system into a new bipartite system, enhanced the S/N ratio from 20 to 146, which is superior to the bipartite sfGFP system split at 157/158 or 173/174. Our results implied that the 10th β-strand of sfGFP has a low affinity and a good recovery efficiency to construct a robust BiFC system, and this concept might be applied to other fluorescent proteins with similar structure to construct new BiFC systems.

scholarly journals The effect of proximity on the function and energy transfer capability of fluorescent protein pairs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob R. Pope ◽  
Rachel L. Johnson ◽  
W. David Jamieson ◽  
Harley L Worthy ◽  
Senthilkumar D. Kailasam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transfer ◽  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Resonance Energy Transfer ◽  
Resonance Energy ◽  
Protein Protein Interactions ◽  
Fluorescent Properties ◽  
Transition Dipole ◽  
Green Fluorescent

AbstractFluorescent proteins (FPs) are commonly used in pairs to monitor dynamic biomolecular events through changes in their proximity via distance dependent processes such as Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Many FPs have a tendency to oligomerise, which is likely to be promoted through attachment to associating proteins through increases in local FP concentration. We show here that on association of FP pairs, the inherent function of the FPs can alter. Artificial dimers were constructed using a bioorthogonal Click chemistry approach that combined a commonly used green fluorescent protein (superfolder GFP) with itself, a yellow FP (Venus) or a red FP (mCherry). In each case dimerisation changes the inherent fluorescent properties, including FRET capability. The GFP homodimer demonstrated synergistic behaviour with the dimer being brighter than the sum of the two monomers. The structure of the GFP homodimer revealed that a water-rich interface is formed between the two monomers, with the chromophores being in close proximity with favourable transition dipole alignments. Dimerisation of GFP with Venus results in a complex displaying ∼86% FRET efficiency, which is significantly below the near 100% efficiency predicted. When GFP is complexed with mCherry, FRET and mCherry fluorescence itself is essentially lost. Thus, the simple assumptions used when monitoring interactions between proteins via FP FRET may not always hold true, especially under conditions whereby the protein-protein interactions promote FP interaction.Abstract Figure

scholarly journals Coherent Dynamics of Photoexcited Green Fluorescent Proteins

2001 ◽  
Vol 86 (15) ◽  
pp. 3439-3442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo A. G. Cinelli ◽  
Valentina Tozzini ◽  
Vittorio Pellegrini ◽  
Fabio Beltram ◽  
Giulio Cerullo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Green Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Coherent Dynamics ◽  
Green Fluorescent

scholarly journals Multiphoton Bleaching of Red Fluorescent Proteins and the Ways to Reduce It

2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 770
Author(s):  
Mikhail Drobizhev ◽  
Rosana S. Molina ◽  
Jacob Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Structure ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Multiphoton Ionization ◽  
Excitation Power ◽  
Photon Absorption ◽  
Green Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Two Photon Absorption ◽  
Two Photon ◽  
Red Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Green Fluorescent

Red fluorescent proteins and biosensors built upon them are potentially beneficial for two-photon laser microscopy (TPLM) because they can image deeper layers of tissue, compared to green fluorescent proteins. However, some publications report on their very fast photobleaching, especially upon excitation at 750–800 nm. Here we study the multiphoton bleaching properties of mCherry, mPlum, tdTomato, and jREX-GECO1, measuring power dependences of photobleaching rates K at different excitation wavelengths across the whole two-photon absorption spectrum. Although all these proteins contain the chromophore with the same chemical structure, the mechanisms of their multiphoton bleaching are different. The number of photons required to initiate a photochemical reaction varies, depending on wavelength and power, from 2 (all four proteins) to 3 (jREX-GECO1) to 4 (mCherry, mPlum, tdTomato), and even up to 8 (tdTomato). We found that at sufficiently low excitation power P, the rate K often follows a quadratic power dependence, that turns into higher order dependence (K~Pα with α > 2) when the power surpasses a particular threshold P*. An optimum intensity for TPLM is close to the P*, because it provides the highest signal-to-background ratio and any further reduction of laser intensity would not improve the fluorescence/bleaching rate ratio. Additionally, one should avoid using wavelengths shorter than a particular threshold to avoid fast bleaching due to multiphoton ionization.

scholarly journals Probing chemotaxis activity inEscherichia coliusing fluorescent protein fusions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clémence Roggo ◽  
Jan Roelof van der Meer
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Bacterial Chemotaxis ◽  
Ph Sensitive ◽  
Flagellar Motors ◽  
Receptor Interactions ◽  
Split Egfp ◽  
Green Fluorescent

ABSTRACTChemotaxis is based on ligand-receptor interactions that are transmitted via protein-protein interactions to the flagellar motors. Ligand-receptor interactions in chemotaxis can be deployed for the development of rapid biosensor assays, but there is no consensus as to what the best readout of such assays would have to be. Here we explore two potential fluorescent readouts of chemotactically activeEscherichia colicells. In the first, we probed interactions between the chemotaxis signaling proteins CheY and CheZ by fusing them individually with non-fluorescent parts of a ‘split’-Green Fluorescent Protein. Wild-type chemotactic cells but not mutants lacking the CheA kinase produced distinguishable fluorescence foci, two-thirds of which localize at the cell poles with the chemoreceptors and one-third at motor complexes. Cells expressing fusion proteins only were attracted to serine sources, demonstrating measurable functional interactions between CheY~P and CheZ. Fluorescent foci based on stable split-eGFP displayed small fluctuations in cells exposed to attractant or repellent, but those based on an unstable ASV-tagged eGFP showed a higher dynamic behaviour both in the foci intensity changes and the number of foci per cell. For the second readout, we expressed the pH-sensitive fluorophore pHluorin in the cyto- and periplasm of chemotactically activeE. coli. Calibrations of pHluorin fluorescence as a function of pH demonstrated that cells accumulating near a chemo-attractant temporally increase cytoplasmic pH while decreasing periplasmic pH. Both readouts thus show promise as proxies for chemotaxis activity, but will have to be further optimized in order to deliver practical biosensor assays.IMPORTANCEBacterial chemotaxis may be deployed for future biosensing purposes with the advantages of its chemoreceptor ligand-specificity and its minute-scale response time. On the downside, chemotaxis is ephemeral and more difficult to quantitatively read out than, e.g., reporter gene expression. It is thus important to investigate different alternative ways to interrogate chemotactic response of cells. Here we gauge the possibilities to measure dynamic response in theEscherichia colichemotaxis pathway resulting from phosphorylated CheY-CheZ interactions by using (unstable) split-fluorescent proteins. We further test whether pH differences between cyto- and periplasm as a result of chemotactic activity can be measured with help of pH-sensitive fluorescent proteins. Our results show that both approaches conceptually function, but will need further improvement in terms of detection and assay types to be practical for biosensing.

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