Timeline

2007

Latest GFP review

Reference: NC Shaner, GH Patterson, MW Davidson: Advances in fluorescent protein technology. J Cell Sci 120 (2007) 4247-60.

2004

New “fruit” FPs generated by in vitro and in vivo directed evolution.

NC Shaner, RE Campbell, PA Steinbach, BNG Giepmans, AE Palmer, RY Tsien: Improved monomeric red, orange and yellow fluorescent proteins derived from Discosoma sp red fluorescent protein. Nature Biotechnology 22 (2004) 1567-72. L Wang, WC Jackson, PA Steinbach, RY Tsien: Evolution of new nonantibody proteins via iterative somatic hypermutation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 101 (2004) 16745-49.

2003

Kindling protein (KFP) can undergo irreversible photoconversion from non-fluorescent to stable red fluorescent form upon photoactivation.

Reference: DM Chudakov, VV Belousov, AG Zaraisky, VV Novoselov, DB Staroverov, DB Zorov, S Lukyanov, KA Lukyanov: Kindling fluorescent proteins for precise in vivo photolabeling. Nature Biotechnology 21 (2003) 191-94.

2002

Monomeric DsRed (mRFP), first photoconverible (Kaede), and photoactivatable (PA-GFP ) FPs created.

References: RE Campbell, O Tour, AE Palmer, PA Steinbach, GS Baird, DA Zacharias, RY Tsien: A monomeric red fluorescent protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99 (2002) 7877-82. H Mizuno, TK Mal, KI Tong, R Ando, T Furuta, M Ikura, A Miyawakil: Photo-induced peptide cleavage in the green-to-red conversion of a fluorescent protein. Molecular Cell 12 (2003) 1051-58. GH Patterson, J Lippincott-Schwartz: A photoactivatable GFP for selective photolabeling of proteins and cells. Science 297 (2002) 1873-77.

2000

Fluorescent timer protein

Reference: LA Gross, GS Baird, RC Hoffman, KK Baldridge, RY Tsien: The structure of the chromophore within DsRed, a red fluorescent protein from coral. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 97 (2000) 11990-95.

2000

The biggest difference between green fluorescent protein and its red analog, DsRed, is that the chromophore of DsRed has an extra double bond (drawn in yellow) which extends the chromophores conjugation and causes the red-shift.

Reference: RE Campbell, O Tour, AE Palmer, PA Steinbach, GS Baird, DA Zacharias, RY Tsien: A monomeric red fluorescent protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99 (2002) 7877-82.

1999

Red fluorescent proteins (DsRed) discovered in anthozoan corals. (19) Leads to discovery of many new fluorescent proteins and chromoproteins. GFP tolerates insertion of entire proteins in certain locations and can be circularly permuted.

Reference: MV Matz, AF Fradkov, YA Labas, AP Savitisky, AG Zaraisky, ML Markelov, SA Lukyanov: Fluorescent proteins from nonbioluminescent Anthozoa species. Nature Biotech. 17 (1999) 969-73.

1997

Calcium Detectors using GFP are Invented

Reference: Miyawaki, A., Llopis, J., Heim, R. et al. Fluorescent indicators for Ca2+based on green fluorescent proteins and calmodulin. Nature 388, 882–887 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/42264

1997

Photoisomerization between A(neutral) and B(anionic) forms of wild-type GFP elucidated.

Resource: K Brejc, TK Sixma, PA Kitts, SR Kain, RY Tsien, M Ormo, SJ Remington: Structural basis for dual excitation and photoisomerization of the Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 94 (1997) 2306-11.

1997

FRET between two fluorescent proteins linked by the calmodulin binding domain used as a Ca2+ sensor named Cameleon.

References: A Miyawaki, J Llopis, R Heim, JM McCaffrey, JA Adams, M Ikura, RY Tsien: Fluorescent indicators for Ca2+ based on green fluorescent proteins and calmodulin. Nature 388 (1997) 882-87. A Miyawaki, O Griesbeck, R Heim, RY Tsien: Dynamic and quantitative Ca2+ measurements using improved cameleons. Proc. Nat. Acad. Science 96 (1999) 2135-40.