title: Background free imaging of single mRNAs in live cells using split fluorescent proteins.
abstract: We describe a technique for imaging single mRNAs in living cells based on fluorescent protein (FP) complementation. We employ the high affinity interaction between the bacterial phage MS2/PP7 coat proteins and their respective RNA binding motifs as an RNA scaffold to bring two halves of a split-FP together to image single reporter mRNAs without background fluorescence.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University [2] Gruss Lipper Biophotonic Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
authors.forename: Jiahao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University [2] Gruss Lipper Biophotonic Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Singer
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics; D005453:Fluorescence; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger