Despite the recent development of several super-resolution fluorescence microscopic techniques, there are still few techniques that can be readily employed in conventional imaging systems. We present a very simple, rapid, general and cost-efficient super-resolution imaging method, which can be directly employed in a simple fluorescent imaging system with general fluorophores. Based on diffusion-assisted Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), fluorescent donor molecules that label specific target structures can be stochastically quenched by diffusing acceptor molecules, thereby temporally separating otherwise spatially overlapped fluorescence signals and allowing super-resolution imaging. The proposed method provides two- to three-fold-enhancement in spatial resolution, a significant optical sectioning property, and favorable temporal resolution in live-cell imaging. We demonstrate super-resolution live-cell dynamic imaging using general fluorophores in a standard epi-fluorescence microscope with light-emitting diode (LED) illumination. Due to the simplicity of this approach, we expect that the proposed method will prove an attractive option for super-resolution imaging.

Quantifying the concentration and purity of a target protein is essential for high-throughput protein expression test and rapid screening of highly soluble proteins. However, conventional methods such as PAGE and dot blot assay generally involve multiple time-consuming tasks requiring hours or do not allow instant quantification. Here, we demonstrate a new method based on the Photoactive yellow protein turn Off/On Label (POOL) system that can instantly quantify the concentration and purity of a target protein. The main idea of POOL is to use Photoactive Yellow Protein (PYP), or its miniaturized version, as a fusion partner of the target protein. The characteristic blue light absorption and the consequent yellow color of PYP is absent when initially expressed without its chromophore, but can be turned on by binding its chromophore, p-coumaric acid. The appearance of yellow color upon adding a precursor of chromophore to the co-expressed PYP can be used to check the expression amount of the target protein via visual inspection within a few seconds as well as to quantify its concentration and purity with the aid of a spectrometer within a few minutes. The concentrations measured by the POOL method, which usually takes a few minutes, show excellent agreement with those by the BCA Kit, which usually takes ∼1 h. We demonstrate the applicability of POOL in E. coli, insect, and mammalian cells, and for high-throughput protein expression screening.

Photoactive yellow protein (PYP) induces negative phototaxis in Halorhodospira halophila via photoactivation triggered by light-mediated chromophore isomerization. Chromophore isomerization proceeds via a volume-conserving isomerization mechanism due to the hydrogen-bond network and steric constraints inside the protein, and causes significant conformational changes accompanied by N-terminal protrusion. However, it is unclear how the structural change of the chromophore affects the remote N-terminal domain. To understand photocycle-related structural changes, we investigated the structural aspect of chromophore removal in PYP because it possesses a disrupted hydrogen-bond network similar to that in photocycle intermediates. A comparison of the structural aspects with those observed in the photocycle would give a clue related to the structural change mechanism in the photocycle Chromophore removal effects were assessed via UV-vis spectroscopy, circular dichroism, and X-ray solution scattering. Molecular shape reconstruction and an experiment-restrained rigid-body molecular dynamics simulation based on the scattering data were performed to determine protein shape, size, and conformational changes upon PYP bleaching. Data show that chromophore removal disrupted the holo-PYP structure, resulting in a small N-terminal protrusion, but the extent of conformational changes was markedly less than those in the photocycle. This indicates that disruption of the hydrogen-bond network alone in bleached PYP does not induce the large conformational change observed in the photocycle, which thus must result from the organized structural transition around the chromophore triggered by chromophore photoisomerization along with disruption of the hydrogen-bond network between the chromophore and the PYP core.

Theoretical calculation of X‐ray solution scattering curves of proteins in the solution phase is strongly influenced by solvent contributions in the form of solvent‐excluded volume and hydration layer that are generally represented either implicitly or explicitly. To investigate the effect of the implicit and explicit solvent models on the calculated scattering curves, we developed a new program, X‐ray Solution Scattering (XSoS) based on implicit (XSoS‐implicit) and explicit (XSoS‐explicit) solvent models. Both XSoS‐implicit and XSoS‐explicit can calculate X‐ray solution scattering curves with high accuracy. Overall, the implicit solvent model has practical advantages over the explicit solvent model for the analysis of experimental X‐ray solution scattering data.