Contact-FP: A Dimerization-Dependent Fluorescent Protein Toolkit for Visualizing Membrane Contact Site Dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Membrane contact sites (MCSs) are sites of close apposition between two organelles used to exchange ions, lipids, and information. Cells respond to changing environmental or developmental conditions by modulating the number, extent, or duration of MCSs. Because of their small size and dynamic nature, tools to study the dynamics of MCSs in live cells have been limited. Dimerization-dependent fluorescent proteins (ddFPs) targeted to organelle membranes are an ideal tool for studying MCS dynamics because they reversibly interact to fluoresce specifically at the interface between two organelles. Here, we build on previous work using ddFPs as sensors to visualize the morphology and dynamics of MCSs. We engineered a suite of ddFPs called Contact-FP that targets ddFP monomers to lipid droplets (L

SUBMITTER: Miner GE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10846013 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature