Li, L. et al. Nat. Commun. 9, 2734 (2018).
Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) has emerged as a powerful method for sensitive and high-resolution imaging in vivo, but the development of genetically encoded probes for PAI has lagged behind that for fluorescence imaging. Li et al. report the engineering of a photoswitchable near-infrared fluorescent protein for improved photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT). The protein, DrBphP-PCM, is based on bacterial DrBphP but is an improvement over that phytochrome in that it is smaller, folds better, and gives higher photoswitching contrast. The researchers showed that DrBphP-PCM outperforms DrBphP for imaging deep within the mouse brain and can be used in multiplexed PACT. They also used DrBphP-PCM as the basis for a split version of the protein, termed DrSplit, which enabled the detection of protein–protein interactions deep within tissues. These new probes should provide versatile tools for deep-tissue imaging.
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Strack, R. Improved photoacoustic imaging probes. Nat Methods 15, 652 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-018-0127-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-018-0127-7