title: A guide to choosing fluorescent proteins.
abstract: The recent explosion in the diversity of available fluorescent proteins (FPs) promises a wide variety of new tools for biological imaging. With no unified standard for assessing these tools, however, a researcher is faced with difficult questions. Which FPs are best for general use? Which are the brightest? What additional factors determine which are best for a given experiment? Although in many cases, a trial-and-error approach may still be necessary in determining the answers to these questions, a unified characterization of the best available FPs provides a useful guide in narrowing down the options.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Nathan C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Shaner
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Steinbach
authors.forename: Roger Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Tsien
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D008164:Luminescent Proteins