Emerging fluorescent protein technologies.

Fluorescent proteins (FPs), such as the Aequorea jellyfish green FP (GFP), are firmly established as fundamental tools that enable a wide variety of biological studies. Specifically, FPs can serve as versatile genetically encoded markers for tracking proteins, organelles, or whole cells, and as the basis for construction of biosensors that can be used to visualize a growing array of biochemical events in cells and tissues. In this review we will focus on emerging applications of FPs that represent unprecedented new directions for the field.

Ratiometric biosensors based on dimerization-dependent fluorescent protein exchange.

We have developed a versatile new class of genetically encoded fluorescent biosensor based on reversible exchange of the heterodimeric partners of green and red dimerization-dependent fluorescent proteins. We demonstrate the use of this strategy to construct both intermolecular and intramolecular ratiometric biosensors for qualitative imaging of caspase activity, Ca(2+) concentration dynamics and other second-messenger signaling activities.