Dual-colour microscopy of single fluorophores bound to myosin interacting with fluorescently labelled actin using...

We have refined prismless total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy with extremely low background to visualize single fluorophores attached to protein molecules interacting with a filamentous biopolymer labelled with different colour fluorophores. By using Stokes and anti-Stokes fluorescence, two different colour fluorescences from two different colour fluorophores excited with a single wavelength laser can be observed simultaneously. This microscopy was applied to visualize motor proteins, actin and myosin molecules. Single myosin molecules labelled with a tetramethylrhodamine-5-iodoacetamide interacting with a BODIPY FL-labelled actin filament, a filamentous polymer of actin molecules, were observed clearly and simultaneously in aqueous solution. Individual hydrolysis reactions of Cy3-labelled ATP by single myosin molecules and sliding of a BODIPY FL-labelled actin filament along the myosin molecules could also be observed simultaneously. Thus, this technique is useful for observing single molecular processes of proteins interacting with a biological macromolecule such as an actin filament and a DNA.