Table 5.

Characteristics of the fluorescent proteins deemed most suitable for BPI

Fluorescent protein	Excitation max.	Emission max.	Origin	Quantum yield	Excitation coefficient (M−1 cm−1)	Brightness (% DSRed)*	Maturation t1/2(min)	Reference
DsRed	558	583	Discosoma sp.	0.79	75 000	100	∼600	Shaner et al. (2004)
tdTomato	554	581	DsRed	0.69	138 000	160	60	Shaner et al. (2004)
mCherry	587	610	DsRed	0.22	72 000	27	15	Shaner et al. (2004)
mRaspberry	598	625	DsRed	0.15	86 000	22	55	Wang et al. (2004b)
mPlum	590	649	DsRed	0.1	41 000	7	100	Wang et al. (2004b)
TurboRFP	553	574	eqFP578	0.67	92 000	104	ND	Merzlyak et al. (2007)
TagRFP	555	584	eqFP578	0.48	100 000	81	100	Merzlyak et al. (2007)
Katushka	588	635	eqFP578	0.34	65 000	37	20	Shcherbo et al. (2007)
mKate	588	635	eqFP578	0.28	31 500	15	75	Merzlyak et al. (2007), Shcherbo et al. (2007)
tdKatushka2	588	633	eqFP578	0.37	132 500	82	ND	Shcherbo et al. (2009)
mKate2	588	633	eqFP578	0.4	62 500	42	<20	Shcherbo et al. (2009)
RFP611	559	611	eqFP611	0.48	120 000†	97†	110	Kredel et al. (2008)
					151 000‡	122‡
RFP639	588	639	eqFP611	0.18	69.000†	21†	90	Kredel et al. (2008)
					110 400‡	34‡
tdRFP611	558	609	eqFP611	0.47	70 000†	56†	225	Kredel et al. (2008)
					144 000‡	114‡
tdRFP639	589	631	eqFP611	0.16	90 400†	24†	<480§	Kredel et al. (2008)
					110 000‡	30‡
mRuby	558	605	eqFP611	0.35	112 000†	66	168	Kredel et al. (2009)
AQ143	595	655	aeCP597	0.04	90 000	6	ND	Shkrob et al. (2005)
IFP1.4	684	708	DrBphP	0.07	92 000	11	ND	Shu et al. (2009)

Key:

^*Brightness is calculated as extinction coefficient × quantum yield.

^†As determined by alkaline denaturation method.

^‡As determined by dynamic difference method.

^§As determined from expression in HEK293 cells; ND, not determined.