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The Single Molecule Imaging Approach to Membrane Protein Stoichiometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

Richard Hallworth  and
Michael G. Nichols
Richard Hallworth*
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Creighton University School of Medicine, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178, USA
Michael G. Nichols
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Creighton University, Omaha, NE 68178, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: hallw@creighton.edu
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Abstract

Recent technical advances have enabled the imaging of single fluorescent molecules. The application of single molecule visualization techniques has opened up new avenues of experimentation in biology at the molecular level. In this article, we review the application of single fluorescent molecule visualization and analysis to an important problem, that of subunit stoichiometry in membrane proteins, with particular emphasis on our approach. Single fluorescent molecules, coupled to fluorescent proteins, are localized in the membranes of cells. The molecules are then exposed to continuous low-level excitation until their fluorescent emissions reach background levels. The high sensitivity of modern instrumentation has enabled direct observations of discrete step decreases in the fluorescence of single molecules, which represent the bleaching of single fluorophores. By counting the number of steps over a large number of single molecules, an average step count is determined from which the stoichiometry is deduced using a binomial model. We examined the stoichiometry of a protein, prestin, that is central to mammalian hearing. We discuss how we prepared, identified, and imaged single molecules of prestin. The methodological considerations behind our approach are described and compared to similar procedures in other laboratories.

Keywords

prestinmembrane proteinsingle molecule imaginghair cell
Type
Special Section: Seventh Omaha Imaging Symposium
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , August 2012 , pp. 771 - 780
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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