Engineering a bright near-infrared fluorescent protein by screening a comprehensive phenotypic landscape

Near-infrared fluorescent proteins (niRFPs) are valuable markers for tracking cellular phenomena as they offer greater imaging depth, lower background, and minimal invasiveness relative to other fluorescent probes. The small ultrared fluorescent protein (smURFP) is the brightest niRFP currently reported and has been the subject of several mutagenesis studies to improve its biophysical characteristics. Here, we demonstrate a systematic approach to exploring the mutational landscape of smURFP using a comprehensive deep mutational scanning (DMS) library to identify novel smURFP mutations which confer greater in vivo fluorescence. By observing changes in relative abundance between naïve and fluorescence sorted populations, we provide analysis of the enrichment of all possible single-codon substitutions, insertions, and deletions for smURFP. Enriched populations yielded a series of seven single-codon substitutions which confer a threefold increase in in vivo fluorescence in E. coli when combined. Finally, we assess the potential underlying mechanisms for increased fluorescence by characterizing the biophysical and photophysical properties of the mutant niRFP sequences. We confirm that two of the derived smURFP sequences have a higher molecular brightness than wild type and yield the brightest niRFP reported.