Quantitative Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer Measurements Using Fluorescence Microscopy

TLDR

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) combined with optical microscopy enables quantitative, spatially resolved measurements of molecular interactions in living cells, but steady‑state FRET is distorted by acceptor direct excitation and concentration‑dependent effects. The study introduces a straightforward method for analyzing FRET data acquired with standard fluorescence microscope filter sets. The method corrects for donor–acceptor cross‑talk and for the dependence of FRET on donor and acceptor concentrations. Application to Bcl‑2 and Beclin interaction measurements demonstrates that the correction accurately accounts for donor/acceptor concentrations and filter cross‑talk.

Abstract

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a technique used for quantifying the distance between two molecules conjugated to different fluorophores. By combining optical microscopy with FRET it is possible to obtain quantitative temporal and spatial information about the binding and interaction of proteins, lipids, enzymes, DNA, and RNA in vivo. In conjunction with the recent development of a variety of mutant green fluorescent proteins (mtGFPs), FRET microscopy provides the potential to measure the interaction of intracellular molecular species in intact living cells where the donor and acceptor fluorophores are actually part of the molecules themselves. However, steady-state FRET microscopy measurements can suffer from several sources of distortion, which need to be corrected. These include direct excitation of the acceptor at the donor excitation wavelengths and the dependence of FRET on the concentration of acceptor. We present a simple method for the analysis of FRET data obtained with standard filter sets in a fluorescence microscope. This method is corrected for cross talk (any detection of donor fluorescence with the acceptor emission filter and any detection of acceptor fluorescence with the donor emission filter), and for the dependence of FRET on the concentrations of the donor and acceptor. Measurements of the interaction of the proteins Bcl-2 and Beclin (a recently identified Bcl-2 interacting protein located on chromosome 17q21), are shown to document the accuracy of this approach for correction of donor and acceptor concentrations, and cross talk between the different filter units.