title: Luminescent proteins for high-speed single-cell and whole-body imaging.
abstract: The use of fluorescent proteins has revolutionized our understanding of biological processes. However, the requirement for external illumination precludes their universal application to the study of biological processes in all tissues. Although light can be created by chemiluminescence, light emission from existing chemiluminescent probes is too weak to use this imaging modality in situations when fluorescence cannot be used. Here we report the development of the brightest luminescent protein to date, Nano-lantern, which is a chimera of enhanced Renilla luciferase and Venus, a fluorescent protein with high bioluminescence resonance energy transfer efficiency. Nano-lantern allows real-time imaging of intracellular structures in living cells with spatial resolution equivalent to fluorescence and sensitive tumour detection in freely moving unshaved mice. We also create functional indicators based on Nano-lantern that can image Ca(2+), cyclic adenosine monophosphate and adenosine 5'-triphosphate dynamics in environments where the use of fluorescent indicators is not feasible. These luminescent proteins allow visualization of biological phenomena at previously unseen single-cell, organ and whole-body level in animals and plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Y-F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Horikawa
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hatsugai
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashida
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Takeharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagai
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002477:Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism; D006367:HeLa Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D008156:Luciferases; D049410:Luciferases, Renilla; D049449:Luminescence; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000379:methods; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D049329:Nanostructures; D051381:Rats; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C054562:yellow fluorescent protein, Bacteria; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D008156:Luciferases; C581563:nano-lantern protein; D049410:Luciferases, Renilla