YPet Fused to Rat Connexin Cx43
Connexins are a family of proteins that in vertebrates form hexameric structures in the plasma membranes of adjacent cells, thereby creating intercellular channels, or gap junctions. Connexins are typically named according to their molecular weights. For example, Cx43 is the 43 kiloDalton connexin protein. YPet fused to rat connexin Cx43 was employed to visualize gap junctions in the cell culture shown in the digital image above. YPet is a yellow fluorescent protein that was simultaneously developed with CyPet through mutation and selection in an effort to produce a fluorescent protein pair with enhanced FRET efficiency. YPet is the brightest of the YFP variants developed to date.