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Updated: Dec 17, 2025
Visualizing Protein-DNA Interactions in Live Bacterial Cells Using Photoactivated Single-molecule Tracking
Published on: March 10, 2014
Temporally gated molecular tools for tracking protein-protein interactions in live cells
Kayla E Kroning1, Wenjing Wang1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Abstract:
Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are essential in most biological processes. Even though many methods were designed to detect PPIs, detecting PPIs in a large volume of cells with a temporal resolution remains challenging. Recent development of light gated transcriptional reporters, such as SPARK and iTANGO, enabled detection of PPI in a large population of cells with a temporal resolution on the order of minutes. In this chapter, we discussed in detail the application of SPARK to detect PPIs between the activated β-2 adrenergic receptor (B2AR) and both Gα mimic and β-arrestin2. Because SPARK is a multi-component system, the protein expression level is critical for its optimal performance. We also discussed the detailed protocols for using SPARK with either transfection or lentiviral infection in HEK296T/17 cells.
