Fudan University's 31-Residue FluoP-Tag Lights Up Proteins in Living Cells Without a Wash Step, Brighter Than HaloTag in Arrays
Fudan University researchers paired a 31-amino-acid peptide tag with a dye, FluoP580, that only becomes fluorescent when it binds the peptide, so proteins in living cells can be labeled without washing away excess dye, they reported in Angewandte Chemie. An array of eight tags was 3.37 times brighter than HaloTag labeled with a rhodamine probe while being smaller, about 29.5 kDa versus 33 kDa, and it imaged proteins in stress granules, the nucleus, and the cytoskeleton.