Cathodoluminescence of green fluorescent protein exhibits the redshifted spectrum and the robustness.

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) and its variants are an essential tool for visualizing functional units in biomaterials. This is achieved by the fascinating optical properties of them. Here, we report novel optical properties of enhanced GFP (EGFP), which is one of widely used engineered variants of the wild-type GFP. We study the electron-beam-induced luminescence, which is known as cathodoluminescence (CL), using the hybrid light and transmission electron microscope. Surprisingly, even from the same specimen, we observe a completely different dependences of the fluorescence and CL on the electron beam irradiation. Since light emission is normally independent of whether an electron is excited to the upper level by light or by electron beam, this difference is quite peculiar. We conclude that the electron beam irradiation causes the local generation of a new redshifted form of EGFP and CL is preferentially emitted from it. In addition, we also find that the redshifted form is rather robust to electron bombardment. These remarkable properties can be utilized for three-dimensional reconstruction without electron staining in focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy technology and provide significant potential for simultaneously observing the functional information specified by super-resolution CL imaging and the structural information at the molecular level obtained by electron microscope.

Cathodoluminescence and Electron-Induced Fluorescence Enhancement of Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein.

Becaues the spatial resolution of fluorescence microscopy is not high enough to study the molecular level of relationship between the structure and function of biological specimens, correlative light and electron microscopy has been used for this purpose. Another possibility for a high-resolution light microscopy is cathodoluminescence microscopy. Here, we report a new phenomenon, the electron-induced activation of luminescence (cathodoluminescence) and electron-enhanced fluorescence for the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). This was found using our recently developed hybrid fluorescence and electron microscopy. Contrary to the past reports, which showed a degradation of organic compounds by electron irradiation, stable cathodoluminescence emitted from an organic molecule, EGFP, has been observed using the hybrid microscopy. Addition of the glycerol promoted the fluorescence enhancement of EGFP probably due to the change in the electronic state density of excitation channels from the ground to the excited state or of relaxation channels from the excited to the emission state. Stable cathodoluminescence and enhanced fluorescence of the EGFP may introduce a cathodoluminescence microscopy, which will increase the variety of the imaging to investigate the biological compounds.