The present invention is directed to
Protein-fragment
Complementation Assays (PCAs) and
assay compositions based on fluorescent proteins. The invention provides methods for fragmenting fluorescent proteins and generating
mutant fragments with desired spectral characteristics for PCA. The invention encompasses assays and compositions based on fluorescent proteins from the species Aequorea, Anemonia and Anthozoa. In particular, the invention is directed to fragments of
mutant fluorescent proteins having improved
spectral properties over the wild-type proteins. The invention encompasses fragments of
mutant versions of A. Victoria
green fluorescent protein (GFP), in particular yellow fluorescent proteins (EYFP and super-EYFP), ‘Venus’, cyan, ‘citrine’, blue, cyan-green, and photoactivatable variants of GFP The invention also encompasses red fluorescent PCAs based on Discosoma red
fluorescent protein (RFP PCA)and a kindling
fluorescent protein PCA (KFP1 PCA) derived from Anemonia sulcata. Any useful
mutation of a
fluorescent protein can be engineered into a fragment, generating a wide range of assays useful for
drug discovery, target validation, high-
throughput screening, high-content screening, pathway mapping,
drug mechanism-of-action studies, biosensors, and diagnostics.