Genes are expressed to proteins for a wide variety of fundamental biological processes at the cellular and organismal levels. However, a protein rarely functions alone, but rather acts through interactions with other proteins to maintain normal cellular and organismal functions. Therefore, it is important to analyze the protein–protein interactions to determine functional mechanisms of proteins, which can also guide to develop therapeutic targets for treatment of diseases caused by altered protein–protein interactions leading to cellular/organismal dysfunctions. There is a large number of methodologies to study protein interactions in vitro, in vivo and in silico, which led to the development of many protein interaction databases, and thus, have enriched our knowledge about protein–protein interactions and functions. However, many of these interactions were identified in vitro, but need to be verified/validated in living cells. Furthermore, it is unclear whether these interactions are direct or mediated via other proteins. Moreover, these interactions are representative of cell- and time-average, but not a single cell in real time. Therefore, it is crucial to detect direct protein–protein interactions in a single cell during biological processes in vivo, towards understanding the functional mechanisms of proteins in living cells. Importantly, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based methodology has emerged as a powerful technique to decipher direct protein–protein interactions at a single cell resolution in living cells, which is briefly described in a limited available space in this mini-review.
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May 2021
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In-cell and in vitro study of protein folding has been significantly advanced by using biophysical approaches including FRET, NMR, CEST-MRI and optical tweezers. Read more about this in the review by Zhang et al. (pp. 29–38) of the special biophysics issue, ‘Emerging trends in biophysics and their applications in modern biology’, guest edited by Kakoli Bose (ACTREC, India).
Review Article|
April 15 2021
Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in revealing protein–protein interactions in living cells Available to Purchase
Sukesh R. Bhaumik
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Carbondale, IL 62901, U.S.A
Correspondence: Sukesh R. Bhaumik ([email protected])
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
November 29 2020
Revision Received:
February 22 2021
Accepted:
March 04 2021
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2021
Emerg Top Life Sci (2021) 5 (1): 49–59.
Article history
Received:
November 29 2020
Revision Received:
February 22 2021
Accepted:
March 04 2021
Citation
Sukesh R. Bhaumik; Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in revealing protein–protein interactions in living cells. Emerg Top Life Sci 14 May 2021; 5 (1): 49–59. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20200337
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