Abstract
Macromolecular crowding in cells influences processes such as folding, association and diffusion of proteins and polynucleic acids. Direct spatiotemporal readout of crowding would be a powerful approach for unraveling the structure of the cytoplasm and determining the impact of excluded volume on protein function in living cells. Here, we introduce a genetically encodable fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) sensor for quantifying macromolecular crowding and discuss our application of the sensor in bacterial and mammalian cells.
Publication types
-
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
-
Bacterial Proteins / genetics
-
Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
-
Biosensing Techniques / methods*
-
Calibration
-
Cytoplasm / metabolism
-
Escherichia coli / genetics
-
Escherichia coli / metabolism
-
Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer*
-
Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
-
Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
-
HEK293 Cells
-
Humans
-
Luminescent Proteins / genetics
-
Luminescent Proteins / metabolism
-
Macromolecular Substances / analysis*
-
Macromolecular Substances / metabolism
-
Molecular Imaging / methods*
-
Molecular Sequence Data
-
Recombinant Proteins / genetics
-
Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
Substances
-
Bacterial Proteins
-
Cyan Fluorescent Protein
-
Luminescent Proteins
-
Macromolecular Substances
-
Recombinant Proteins
-
yellow fluorescent protein, Bacteria
-
Green Fluorescent Proteins
Associated data
-
GENBANK/KP399789
-
GENBANK/KP399790