The Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) hsp83 Gene Promoter Drives Strong Ubiquitous DsRed and ZsGreen Marker Expression in Transgenic Mosquitoes

Author(s):  
Sophia H Webster ◽  
Maxwell J Scott

Abstract Transgenic strains of the mosquito disease vector Aedes aegypti (L.) are being developed for population suppression or modification. Transgenic mosquitoes are identified using fluorescent protein genes. Here we describe DsRed and ZsGreen marker genes driven by the constitutive Ae. aegypti heat shock protein 83 (hsp83) promoter in transgenic mosquitoes. Transgenic larvae and pupae show strong full body expression of the red and green fluorescent proteins. This greatly assists in screening for transgenic individuals while making new or maintaining already established lines. Transient marker gene expression after embryo microinjection was readily visible in developing larvae allowing the separation of individuals that are more likely to produce transgenic offspring. The strongly expressed marker genes developed in this study should facilitate the detection of transgenic Ae. aegypti larvae or pupae in the field.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Khmelinskii ◽  
Matthias Meurer ◽  
Chi-Ting Ho ◽  
Birgit Besenbeck ◽  
Julia Fueller ◽  
...  

Tandem fluorescent protein timers (tFTs) report on protein age through time-dependent change in color, which can be exploited to study protein turnover and trafficking. Each tFT, composed of two fluorescent proteins (FPs) that differ in maturation kinetics, is suited to follow protein dynamics within a specific time range determined by the maturation rates of both FPs. So far tFTs were constructed by combining different slower-maturing red fluorescent proteins (redFPs) with the same faster-maturing superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP). Towards a comprehensive characterization of tFTs, we compare here tFTs composed of different faster-maturing greenFPs, while keeping the slower-maturing redFP constant (mCherry). Our results indicate that the greenFP maturation kinetics influences the time range of a tFT. Moreover, we observe that commonly used greenFPs can partially withstand proteasomal degradation due to the stability of the FP fold, which results in accumulation of tFT fragments in the cell. Depending on the order of FPs in the timer, incomplete proteasomal degradation either shifts the time range of the tFT towards slower time scales or precludes its use for measurements of protein turnover. We identify greenFPs that are efficiently degraded by the proteasome and provide simple guidelines for design of new tFTs.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (12) ◽  
pp. 3791-3794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Rodrigues ◽  
Martijn van Hemert ◽  
H. Yde Steensma ◽  
Manuela Côrte-Real ◽  
Cecı́la Leão

ABSTRACT We describe the utilization of a red fluorescent protein (DsRed) as an in vivo marker for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Clones expressing red and/or green fluorescent proteins with both cytoplasmic and nuclear localization were obtained. A series of vectors are now available which can be used to create amino-terminal (N-terminal) and carboxyl-terminal (C-terminal) fusions with the DsRed protein.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (152) ◽  
pp. 20180848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maksym Golub ◽  
Virginia Guillon ◽  
Guillaume Gotthard ◽  
Dominik Zeller ◽  
Nicolas Martinez ◽  
...  

Cyan fluorescent proteins (CFPs) are variants of green fluorescent proteins in which the central tyrosine of the chromophore has been replaced by a tryptophan. The increased bulk of the chromophore within a compact protein and the change in the positioning of atoms capable of hydrogen bonding have made it difficult to optimize their fluorescence properties, which took approximately 15 years between the availability of the first useable CFP, enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP), and that of a variant with almost perfect fluorescence efficiency, mTurquoise2. To understand the molecular bases of the progressive improvement in between these two CFPs, we have studied by incoherent neutron scattering the dynamics of five different variants exhibiting progressively increased fluorescence efficiency along the evolution pathway. Our results correlate well with the analysis of the previously determined X-ray crystallographic structures, which show an increase in flexibility between ECFP and the second variant, Cerulean, which is then hindered in the three later variants, SCFP3A (Super Cyan Fluorescent Protein 3A), mTurquoise and mTurquoise2. This confirms that increasing the rigidity of the direct environment of the fluorescent chromophore is not the sole parameter leading to brighter fluorescent proteins and that increased flexibility in some cases may be helpful.


2009 ◽  
Vol 277 (1685) ◽  
pp. 1155-1160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven H. D. Haddock ◽  
Nadia Mastroianni ◽  
Lynne M. Christianson

Genes for the family of green-fluorescent proteins (GFPs) have been found in more than 100 species of animals, with some species containing six or more copies producing a variety of colours. Thus far, however, these species have all been within three phyla: Cnidaria, Arthropoda and Chordata. We have discovered GFP-type fluorescent proteins in the phylum Ctenophora, the comb jellies. The ctenophore proteins share the x YG chromophore motif of all other characterized GFP-type proteins. These proteins exhibit the uncommon property of reversible photoactivation, in which fluorescent emission becomes brighter upon exposure to light, then gradually decays to a non-fluorescent state. In addition to providing potentially useful optical probes with novel properties, finding a fluorescent protein in one of the earliest diverging metazoans adds further support to the possibility that these genes are likely to occur throughout animals.


2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 1223-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Canto ◽  
Peter Palukaitis

The subcellular distribution of the movement proteins (MPs) of nine alanine-scanning mutants of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), fused to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and expressed from CMV, was determined by confocal microscopy of infected epidermal cells of Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana benthamiana, as well as infected N. benthamiana protoplasts. Only those mutant MPs that were functional for movement in all host species tested localized to plasmodesmata of infected epidermal cells and to tubules extending from the surface of infected protoplasts, as for wild-type CMV 3a MP. Various mutant MPs that were either conditionally functional for movement or dysfunctional for movement did not localize to plasmodesmata and did not form tubules on the surface of infected protoplasts. Rather, they showed distribution to different extents throughout the infected cells, including the cytoplasm, nucleus or the plasma membrane. The CMV 3a MP also did not associate with microtubles.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Landon Zarowny ◽  
Abhi Aggarwal ◽  
Virginia M.S. Rutten ◽  
Ilya Kolb ◽  
Ronak Patel ◽  
...  

AbstractGenetically encodable calcium ion (Ca2+) indicators (GECIs) based on green fluorescent proteins (GFP) are powerful tools for imaging of cell signaling and neural activity in model organisms. Following almost two decades of steady improvements in the Aequorea victoria GFP (avGFP)-based GCaMP series of GECIs, the performance of the most recent generation (i.e., GCaMP7) may have reached its practical limit due to the inherent properties of GFP. In an effort to sustain the steady progression towards ever-improved GECIs, we undertook the development of a new GECI based on the bright monomeric GFP, mNeonGreen (mNG). The resulting indicator, mNG-GECO1, is 60% brighter than GCaMP6s in vitro and provides comparable performance as demonstrated by imaging Ca2+ dynamics in cultured cells, primary neurons, and in vivo in larval zebrafish. These results suggest that mNG-GECO1 is a promising next-generation GECI that could inherit the mantle of GCaMP and allow the steady improvement of GECIs to continue for generations to come.


Open Biology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 130206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile Fourrage ◽  
Karl Swann ◽  
Jose Raul Gonzalez Garcia ◽  
Anthony K. Campbell ◽  
Evelyn Houliston

Green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) and calcium-activated photoproteins of the aequorin/clytin family, now widely used as research tools, were originally isolated from the hydrozoan jellyfish Aequora victoria . It is known that bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) is possible between these proteins to generate flashes of green light, but the native function and significance of this phenomenon is unclear. Using the hydrozoan Clytia hemisphaerica , we characterized differential expression of three clytin and four GFP genes in distinct tissues at larva, medusa and polyp stages, corresponding to the major in vivo sites of bioluminescence (medusa tentacles and eggs) and fluorescence (these sites plus medusa manubrium, gonad and larval ectoderms). Potential physiological functions at these sites include UV protection of stem cells for fluorescence alone, and prey attraction and camouflaging counter-illumination for bioluminescence. Remarkably, the clytin2 and GFP2 proteins, co-expressed in eggs, show particularly efficient BRET and co-localize to mitochondria, owing to parallel acquisition by the two genes of mitochondrial targeting sequences during hydrozoan evolution. Overall, our results indicate that endogenous GFPs and photoproteins can play diverse roles even within one species and provide a striking and novel example of protein coevolution, which could have facilitated efficient or brighter BRET flashes through mitochondrial compartmentalization.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document