Bright cyan fluorescent protein variants identified by fluorescence lifetime screening.

Goedhart, Joachim; van Weeren, Laura; Hink, Mark A; Vischer, Norbert O E; Jalink, Kees; Gadella, Theodorus W J · Nat Methods · 2010

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Optimization of autofluorescent proteins by intensity-based screening of bacteria does not necessarily identify the brightest variant for eukaryotes. We report a strategy to screen excited state lifetimes, which identified cyan fluorescent proteins with long fluorescence lifetimes (>3.7 ns) and high quantum yields (>0.8). One variant, mTurquoise, was 1.5-fold brighter than mCerulean in mammalian cells and decayed mono-exponentially, making it an excellent fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) donor.

Medical subject headings