Quantification of Protein Levels in Single Living Cells

Accurate measurement of the amount of specific protein a cell produces is important for investigating basic molecular processes. We have developed a technique that allows for quantitation of protein levels in single cells in vivo. This protein quantitation ratioing (PQR) technique uses a genetic tag...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chiu-An Lo, Ibrahim Kays, Farida Emran, Tsung-Jung Lin, Vedrana Cvetkovska, Brian Edwin Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2015-12-01
Series:Cell Reports
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124715013637
Description
Summary:Accurate measurement of the amount of specific protein a cell produces is important for investigating basic molecular processes. We have developed a technique that allows for quantitation of protein levels in single cells in vivo. This protein quantitation ratioing (PQR) technique uses a genetic tag that produces a stoichiometric ratio of a fluorescent protein reporter and the protein of interest during protein translation. The fluorescence intensity is proportional to the number of molecules produced of the protein of interest and is used to determine the relative amount of protein within the cell. We use PQR to quantify protein expression of different genes using quantitative imaging, electrophysiology, and phenotype. We use genome editing to insert Protein Quantitation Reporters into endogenous genomic loci in three different genomes for quantitation of endogenous protein levels. The PQR technique will allow for a wide range of quantitative experiments examining gene-to-phenotype relationships with greater accuracy.
ISSN:2211-1247