The Growing and Glowing Toolbox of Fluorescent and Photoactive Proteins

Erik A Rodriguez; Robert E Campbell; John Y Lin; Michael Z Lin; Atsushi Miyawaki; Amy E Palmer; Xiaokun Shu; Jin Zhang; Roger Y Tsien

doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2016.09.010

The Growing and Glowing Toolbox of Fluorescent and Photoactive Proteins

Trends Biochem Sci. 2017 Feb;42(2):111-129. doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2016.09.010. Epub 2016 Nov 1.

Authors

Erik A Rodriguez¹, Robert E Campbell², John Y Lin³, Michael Z Lin⁴, Atsushi Miyawaki⁵, Amy E Palmer⁶, Xiaokun Shu⁷, Jin Zhang⁸, Roger Y Tsien⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: ear001@ucsd.edu.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G2, Canada. Electronic address: rc4@ualberta.ca.
³ School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7000, Australia. Electronic address: john.lin@utas.edu.au.
⁴ Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: mzlin@stanford.edu.
⁵ Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan. Electronic address: matsushi@brain.riken.go.jp.
⁶ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA. Electronic address: amy.palmer@colorado.edu.
⁷ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA; Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Electronic address: xiaokun.shu@ucsf.edu.
⁸ Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: jzhang32@ucsd.edu.
⁹ Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. Electronic address: rtsien@ucsd.edu.

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, protein engineering has been extensively used to improve and modify the fundamental properties of fluorescent proteins (FPs) with the goal of adapting them for a fantastic range of applications. FPs have been modified by a combination of rational design, structure-based mutagenesis, and countless cycles of directed evolution (gene diversification followed by selection of clones with desired properties) that have collectively pushed the properties to photophysical and biochemical extremes. In this review, we provide both a summary of the progress that has been made during the past two decades, and a broad overview of the current state of FP development and applications in mammalian systems.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
Bacterial Proteins / genetics
Humans
Luminescent Proteins / chemistry*
Luminescent Proteins / genetics*
Phytochrome / chemistry
Protein Engineering

Substances

Bacterial Proteins
Luminescent Proteins
Phytochrome

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding