Elucidation of subcellular signaling networks by multiparameter imaging is hindered by a lack of sensitive FRET pairs spectrally compatible with the classic CFP/YFP pair. Here, we present a generic strategy to enhance the traditionally poor sensitivity of red FRET sensors by developing self-associating variants of mOrange and mCherry that allow sensors to switch between well-defined on- and off states. Requiring just a single mutation of the mFruit domain, this new FRET pair improved the dynamic range of protease sensors up to 10-fold and was essential to generate functional red variants of CFP-YFP-based Zn(2+) sensors. The large dynamic range afforded by the new red FRET pair allowed simultaneous use of differently colored Zn(2+) FRET sensors to image Zn(2+) over a broad concentration range in the same cellular compartment.

Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) between two fluorescent proteins can be exploited to create fully genetically encoded and thus subcellularly targetable sensors. FRET sensors report changes in energy transfer between a donor and an acceptor fluorescent protein that occur when an attached sensor domain undergoes a change in conformation in response to ligand binding. The design of sensitive FRET sensors remains challenging as there are few generally applicable design rules and each sensor must be optimized anew. In this review we discuss various strategies that address this shortcoming, including rational design approaches that exploit self-associating fluorescent domains and the directed evolution of FRET sensors using high-throughput screening.

Magnesium has important structural, catalytic and signaling roles in cells, yet few tools exist to image this metal ion in real time and at subcellular resolution. Here we report the first genetically encoded sensor for Mg2+, MagFRET-1. This sensor is based on the high-affinity Mg2+ binding domain of human centrin 3 (HsCen3), which undergoes a transition from a molten-globular apo form to a compactly-folded Mg2+-bound state. Fusion of Cerulean and Citrine fluorescent domains to the ends of HsCen3, yielded MagFRET-1, which combines a physiologically relevant Mg2+ affinity (K d = 148 µM) with a 50% increase in emission ratio upon Mg2+ binding due to a change in FRET efficiency between Cerulean and Citrine. Mutations in the metal binding sites yielded MagFRET variants whose Mg2+ affinities were attenuated 2- to 100-fold relative to MagFRET-1, thus covering a broad range of Mg2+ concentrations. In situ experiments in HEK293 cells showed that MagFRET-1 can be targeted to the cytosol and the nucleus. Clear responses to changes in extracellular Mg2+ concentration were observed for MagFRET-1-expressing HEK293 cells when they were permeabilized with digitonin, whereas similar changes were not observed for intact cells. Although MagFRET-1 is also sensitive to Ca2+, this affinity is sufficiently attenuated (K d of 10 µM) to make the sensor insensitive to known Ca2+ stimuli in HEK293 cells. While the potential and limitations of the MagFRET sensors for intracellular Mg2+ imaging need to be further established, we expect that these genetically encoded and ratiometric fluorescent Mg2+ sensors could prove very useful in understanding intracellular Mg2+ homeostasis and signaling.

Proteins that switch between distinct conformational states are ideal to monitor and control molecular processes within the complexity of biological systems. Inspired by the modular architecture of natural signalling proteins, our group explores generic design strategies for the construction of FRET-based sensor proteins and other protein switches. In the present article, I show that designing FRET sensors based on mutually exclusive domain interactions provides a robust method to engineer sensors with predictable properties and an inherently large change in emission ratio. The modularity of this approach should make it easily transferable to other applications of protein switches in fields ranging from synthetic biology, optogenetics and molecular diagnostics.

Site-saturation libraries reduce protein screening effort in directed evolution campaigns by focusing on a limited number of rationally chosen residues. However, uneven library synthesis efficiency leads to amino acid bias, remedied at high cost by expensive custom synthesis of oligonucleotides, or through use of proprietary library synthesis platforms. To address these shortcomings, we have devised a method where DNA libraries are constructed on the surface of microbeads by ligating dsDNA fragments onto growing, surface-immobilised DNA, in iterative split-and-mix cycles. This method—termed SpliMLiB for Split-and-Mix Library on Beads—was applied towards the directed evolution of an anti-IgE Affibody (ZIgE), generating a 160,000-membered, 4-site, saturation library on the surface of 8 million monoclonal beads. Deep sequencing confirmed excellent library balance (5.1% ± 0.77 per amino acid) and coverage (99.3%). As SpliMLiB beads are monoclonal, they were amenable to direct functional screening in water-in-oil emulsion droplets with cell-free expression. A FACS-based sorting of the library beads allowed recovery of hits improved in Kd over wild-type ZIgE by up to 3.5-fold, while a consensus mutant of the best hits provided a 10-fold improvement. With SpliMLiB, directed evolution workflows are accelerated by integrating high-quality DNA library generation with an ultra-high throughput protein screening platform.