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Exploiting the cyanobacterial light-harvesting machinery for developing fluorescent probes

Nature Methods volume 13, pages 729–730 (2016)Cite this article

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Researchers develop a new class of near-infrared fluorescent proteins from a light-harvesting phycobiliprotein.

Over millions of years under severe environmental pressure in murky waters, the cyanobacterial light-harvesting phycobiliprotein allophycocyanin (APC) evolved for excitation and emission maxima in the near-infrared (NIR) optical window (650–900 nm). Now experimental biologists, such as Rodriguez et al.1, who describe their work in an Article in this issue of Nature Methods, are harnessing the power of this natural selection to develop a new generation of bright and robust fluorescent proteins (FPs) for a range of applications, including deep imaging of mammalian tissue.

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Figure 1: Schematic depiction of bilin-based fluorescent proteins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atsushi Miyawaki is at the Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, Brain Science Institute, and Biotechnological Optics Research Team, Center for Advanced Photonics, RIKEN, Hirosawa, Wako-city, Saitama, Japan.,

    Atsushi Miyawaki

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  1. Atsushi Miyawaki
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Correspondence to Atsushi Miyawaki.

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Miyawaki, A. Exploiting the cyanobacterial light-harvesting machinery for developing fluorescent probes. Nat Methods 13, 729–730 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.3983

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