title: Bright monomeric near-infrared fluorescent proteins as tags and biosensors for multiscale imaging.
abstract: Monomeric near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent proteins (FPs) are in high demand as protein tags and components of biosensors for deep-tissue imaging and multicolour microscopy. We report three bright and spectrally distinct monomeric NIR FPs, termed miRFPs, engineered from bacterial phytochrome, which can be used as easily as GFP-like FPs. miRFPs are 2-5-fold brighter in mammalian cells than other monomeric NIR FPs and perform well in protein fusions, allowing multicolour structured illumination microscopy. miRFPs enable development of several types of NIR biosensors, such as for protein-protein interactions, RNA detection, signalling cascades and cell fate. We demonstrate this by engineering the monomeric fluorescence complementation reporters, the IκBα reporter for NF-κB pathway and the cell cycle biosensor for detection of proliferation status of cells in culture and in animals. miRFPs allow non-invasive visualization and detection of biological processes at different scales, from super-resolution microscopy to in vivo imaging, using the same probes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.|Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Daria M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Shcherbakova
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.|Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baloban
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Emelyanov
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brenowitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.|Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.|Analytical Imaging Facility, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.|Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Vladislav V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Verkhusha
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002460:Cell Line; D005260:Female; D022781:Hepatocytes; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D000069416:Intravital Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010834:Phytochrome / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015202:Protein Engineering; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D010834:Phytochrome