title: Data storage based on photochromic and photoconvertible fluorescent proteins.
abstract: The recent discovery of photoconvertible and photoswitchable fluorescent proteins (PCFPs and RSFPs, respectively) that can undergo photoinduced changes of their absorption/emission spectra opened new research possibilities in subdiffraction microscopy and optical data storage. Here we demonstrate the proof-of-principle for read only and rewritable data storage both in 2D and 3D, using PCFPs and RSFPs. The irreversible burning of information was achieved by photoconverting from green to red defined areas in a layer of the PCFP Kaede. Data were also written and erased several times in layers of the photochromic fluorescent protein Dronpa. Using IrisFP, which combines the properties of PCFPs and RSFPs, we performed the first encoding of data in four colours using only one type of fluorescent protein. Finally, three-dimensional optical data storage was demonstrated using three mutants of EosFP (d1EosFP, mEosFP and IrisFP) in their crystalline form. Two-photon excitation allowed the precise addressing of regions of interest (ROIs) within the three-dimensional crystalline matrix without excitation of out-of-focus optical planes. Hence, this contribution highlights several data storage schemes based on the remarkable properties of PCFPs/RSFPs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Photochemistry and Spectroscopy, Department of Chemistry, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium. virgile.adam@chem.kuleuven.be
authors.forename: Virgile
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.forename: Alexei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grichine
authors.forename: Jun-ichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hotta
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamagata
authors.forename: Benjamien
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moeyaert
authors.forename: G Ulrich
authors.initials: GU
authors.lastname: Nienhaus
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyawaki
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bourgeois
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hofkens
mesh_terms: D004581:Electronics / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins