Research Progress of Fluorescent Proteins in Molecular Biology
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2026 | Viewed by 635
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
“By the help of microscopes, there is nothing so small as to escape our inquiry; hence there is a new visible world discovered to the understanding." With this statement, Robert Hooke emphasized that observation is the starting point of all scientific understanding.
Six decades have passed since the discovery of aequorin from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria and the subsequent isolation of the green fluorescent protein (GFP), events that marked the beginning of a new era in biological research. To fluoresce, the proper folding of GFP is the key; the maturation of the 4-(p-hydroxybenzylidene)-5-imidazolinone chromophore—formed from three amino acid residues (Ser65, Tyr66, and Gly67)—occurs within a β-barrel structure that provides the optimal microenvironment for chromophore formation and fluorescence. Thus, GFP functions without external cofactors, enabling its use as a genetically encoded fluorescent tag in living organisms.
From neuronal action potential to studies across all kingdoms of life, fluorescent proteins have illuminated the fundamental processes that govern biology, ranging from whole organisms to single organelles. Extensive efforts have been undertaken to enhance the brightness, photostability, and spectral range of GFP and other discovered fluorescent proteins, leading to a broad palette of color variants tailored for multiplexed imaging. Recent breakthroughs include the development of bright and photostable variants (e.g., mGold2s and mGold2t) for extended imaging, photoactivatable and photoswitchable variants (e.g., mMaple3) enabling super-resolution localization microscopy, and red-shifted proteins (e.g., mScarlet3-H) for deep-tissue imaging. Moreover, ongoing engineering efforts have produced a versatile toolkit of fluorescent biosensors capable of monitoring specific analytes with increasing precision (e.g., jGCaMP8 variants for Ca2+ imaging). Combined with advances in microscopy, this has enabled researchers to not only visualize complex biological events, but also quantify them with high accuracy.
This Special Issue will gather contributions that illuminate novel biological processes through state-of-the-art fluorescence microscopy techniques, with a particular focus on quantitative approaches. Submissions highlighting recent advances in the design, application, or optimization of fluorescent proteins are encouraged. Original research articles and reviews are also welcome.
Dr. Matteo Grenzi
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- fluorescence microscopy
- fluorescence live-cell imaging
- quantitative imaging
- fluorescent biosensors
- in vivo imaging
- innovative fluorescence microscopy techniques
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