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Biochemical Journal logoLink to Biochemical Journal
. 2002 Nov 15;368(Pt 1):17–21. doi: 10.1042/BJ20021191

Far-red fluorescent tag for protein labelling.

Arkady F Fradkov 1, Vladislav V Verkhusha 1, Dmitry B Staroverov 1, Maria E Bulina 1, Yurii G Yanushevich 1, Vladimir I Martynov 1, Sergey Lukyanov 1, Konstantin A Lukyanov 1
PMCID: PMC1222991  PMID: 12350221

Abstract

Practical applications of green fluorescent protein ('GFP')-like fluorescent proteins (FPs) from species of the class Anthozoa (sea anemones, corals and sea pens) are strongly restricted owing to their oligomeric nature. Here we suggest a strategy to overcome this problem by the use of two covalently linked identical red FPs as non-oligomerizing fusion tags. We have applied this approach to the dimeric far-red fluorescent protein HcRed1 and have demonstrated superiority of the tandem tag in the in vivo labelling of fine cytoskeletal structures and tiny nucleoli. In addition, a possibility of effective fluorescence resonance energy transfer ('FRET') between enhanced yellow FP mutant ('EYFP') and tandem HcRed1 was demonstrated in a protease assay.

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Selected References

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