Why people rarely use split fluorescent proteins for co-localization experiments? Usually it's just 2 fluorescent proteins of different color.
I'd expect that split/complementation of FP should provide a more clear evidence of presence in the same cellular structure.
I am not absolutely sure I understand your question but here goes.
FRET requires epitopes to be very close together (
Split GFP is used for analyzing two protein interaction, co-localization does not always mean two protein interacted each other, so if two protein co-localized in the same sub-cellular structure but not interact each other, split GFP will not work. Also for co-localization experiments, you usually are not sure about their localization, you can constantly monitor two protein expressions and localization using 2 different fluorescent proteins. If use split GFP and no green fluorescent detected, you actually cannot conclude they are not co-localized as the proteins might be not expressed.
Split GFP easily assembles on its own without any interactions of the fused partners. One can even use it as a scaffold to bring different parts together: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11046
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