Going live: a comparative analysis of the suitability of the RFP derivatives RedStar, mCherry and tdTomato for intravital and in vitro live imaging of Plasmodium parasites

Graewe, Stefanie; Retzlaff, Silke; Struck, Nicole; Janse, Chris J; Heussler, Volker (2009). Going live: a comparative analysis of the suitability of the RFP derivatives RedStar, mCherry and tdTomato for intravital and in vitro live imaging of Plasmodium parasites. Biotechnology journal, 4(6), pp. 895-902. Wiley 10.1002/biot.200900035

Text 895_ftp.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (513kB) | Request a copy

Fluorescent proteins have proven to be important tools for in vitro live imaging of parasites and for imaging of parasites within the living host by intravital microscopy. We observed that a red fluorescent transgenic malaria parasite of rodents, Plasmodium berghei-RedStar, is suitable for in vitro live imaging experiments but bleaches rapidly upon illumination in intravital imaging experiments using mice. We have therefore generated two additional transgenic parasite lines expressing the novel red fluorescent proteins tdTomato and mCherry, which have been reported to be much more photostable than first- and second-generation red fluorescent proteins including RedStar. We have compared all three red fluorescent parasite lines for their use in in vitro live and intravital imaging of P. berghei blood and liver parasite stages, using both confocal and wide-field microscopy. While tdTomato bleached almost as rapidly as RedStar, mCherry showed improved photostability and was bright in all experiments performed.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

1 since deposited on 12 Jul 2016
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item