title: Near-infrared fluorescent proteins engineered from bacterial phytochromes.
abstract: Near-infrared fluorescent proteins (NIR FPs), photoactivatable NIR FPs and NIR reporters of protein-protein interactions developed from bacterial phytochrome photoreceptors (BphPs) have advanced non-invasive deep-tissue imaging. Here we provide a brief guide to the BphP-derived NIR probes with an emphasis on their in vivo applications. We describe phenotypes of NIR FPs and their photochemical and intracellular properties. We discuss NIR FP applications for imaging of various cell types, tissues and animal models in basic and translational research. In this discussion, we focus on NIR FPs that efficiently incorporate endogenous biliverdin chromophore and therefore can be used as straightforward as GFP-like proteins. We also overview a usage of NIR FPs in different imaging platforms, from planar epifluorescence to tomographic and photoacoustic technologies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology and Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Daria M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Shcherbakova
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology and Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baloban
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology and Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00290, Finland. Electronic address: vladislav.verkhusha@einstein.yu.edu.
authors.forename: Vladislav V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Verkhusha
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D010834:Phytochrome / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D015202:Protein Engineering; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D010834:Phytochrome