ChromoBlog

Introduction

Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been used as protein tags since the mid-1990s mainly for cell biology and fluorescence microscopy. These tags have not only revolutionized cell biology by enabling the imaging of almost any protein, they are also used in biochemical applications. An important example is the immunoprecipitation and affinity purification of FP-tagged proteins, which was enabled by the development of affinity resins with high yield, purity, and affinity such as ChromoTek’s Nano-Traps (https://www.chromotek.com/products/detail/product-detail/nano-traps/).

In this blog we provide a review of

• green fluorescent proteins
• red fluorescent proteins
• self-labelling proteins, that require the covalent coupling of a fluorescent molecule

Jellyfish Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and its derivatives are still the most frequently used fluorescent proteins in biomedical research. Recently, additional green fluorescent proteins have been discovered in higher animals such as crustaceans and lancelets. These FPs share a common fold, but diverge widely in their primary sequence. Thus, they require novel, dedicated antibody research tools. Here is an overview about EGFP (the most commonly used GFP derivative), TurboGFP and mNeonGreen.

TurboGFP is a bright green fluorescent protein used to study protein function, localization and dynamics in cells. Nanobody based research tools allow reproducible biochemical analysis including mass spectrometry and enzyme activity measurements of TurboGFP fusion proteins.