With the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the value of the discovery and development of fluorescent proteins (FPs) has been well recognized and appreciated. However, the research on FPs has not reached its utmost potential. Instead, there have been relentless endeavors to find the "perfect" FP since their discovery just over a decade ago. Bright, photostable, monomeric, and fast-maturing FPs are being sought in all spectral regions. Those that work well as fusions or in fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) see ever-increasing use as molecular markers or rulers.
Novel microscopy techniques that can image with resolutions of ~10nm, previously only possible with electronic microscopy, rely on a family of FPs called “photoactivatable FPs” or “photoswitchable FPs”. Such techniques include Photoactivated Localization Microscopy (PALM) and Structure-Illumination Microscopy (SIM). Allele Biotechnology now has a portal for information on various super resolution imaging techniques (PALM, STORM, SIM, STED), tools, and equipment. To access this super resolution imaging portal click here.
There are 6 different FPs currently available and dozens more in the pipeline. The FPs currently available are:
They have been integrated into the many different platforms and applications, such as lentivirus, retrovirus, baculovirus, RNA interference, bicistronic expression, organelle marker and promoter test constructs. Most FPs will be provided in the formats of a Plasmid, Pre-Packaged Virus, Recombinant Proteins, Custom Assay Development, and Patent Sublicensing.