mKikGR, a monomeric photoswitchable fluorescent protein

Satoshi Habuchi*, Hidekazu Tsutsui, Anna B. Kochaniak, Atsushi Miyawaki, Antoine M. van Oijen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

169 Scopus citations

Abstract

The recent demonstration and utilization of fluorescent proteins whose fluorescence can be switched on and off has greatly expanded the toolkit of molecular and cell biology. These photoswitchable proteins have facilitated the characterization of specifically tagged molecular species in the cell and have enabled fluorescence imaging of intracellular structures with a resolution far below the classical diffraction limit of light. Applications are limited, however, by the fast photobleaching, slow photoswitching, and oligomerization typical for photoswitchable proteins currently available. Here, we report the molecular cloning and spectroscopic characterization of mKikGR, a monomeric version of the previously reported KikGR that displays high photostability and switching rates. Furthermore, we present single-molecule imaging experiments that demonstrate that individual mKikGR proteins can be localized with a precision of better than 10 nanometers, suggesting their suitability for super-resolution imaging.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere3944
JournalPloS one
Volume3
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 15 2008
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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