Photoswitchable protein allows real-time monitoring of protein traffic within living cells and enables investigation of protein dynamics and communication pathways between cell structures
Evrogen offers a novel photoactivatable dual-colour protein, PS-CFP2, capable of irreversible photoconversion from a cyan to a green fluorescent form in response to 405nm light irradiation.
After complete photoconversion, more than a 2000-fold increase in the green-to-cyan fluorescence ratio is observed, making PS-CFP2 the highest-contrast monomeric photoactivatable fluorescent protein, it is claimed.
High pH stability before photoactivation allows targeting PS-CFP2 to acidic organelles such as endosomes and lysosomes.
PS-CFP2 is an improved version of a photoswitchable protein described in [Chudakov et al, Nat Biotechnol 2004, 22(11):1435-1439].
As compared to a previous version, PS-CFP2 demonstrates faster maturation and a brighter fluorescence both before and after photoswitching.
There are several video films at Evrogen's website demonstrating how photoswitchable protein can be used to track protein traffic.
Evrogen's product line includes vector collection to prepare PS-CFP2-tagged fusions and express these fusions in mammalian cells.
