Scientific Reports (Jul 2017)

ShadowY: a dark yellow fluorescent protein for FLIM-based FRET measurement

  • Hideji Murakoshi,
  • Akihiro C. E. Shibata

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07002-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM)-based Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurement (FLIM-FRET) is one of the powerful methods for imaging of intracellular protein activities such as protein–protein interactions and conformational changes. Here, using saturation mutagenesis, we developed a dark yellow fluorescent protein named ShadowY that can serve as an acceptor for FLIM-FRET. ShadowY is spectrally similar to the previously reported dark YFP but has a much smaller quantum yield, greater extinction coefficient, and superior folding property. When ShadowY was paired with mEGFP or a Clover mutant (CloverT153M/F223R) and applied to a single-molecule FRET sensor to monitor a light-dependent conformational change of the light-oxygen-voltage domain 2 (LOV2) in HeLa cells, we observed a large FRET signal change with low cell-to-cell variability, allowing for precise measurement of individual cell responses. In addition, an application of ShadowY to a separate-type Ras FRET sensor revealed an EGF-dependent large FRET signal increase. Thus, ShadowY in combination with mEGFP or CloverT153M/F223R is a promising FLIM-FRET acceptor.