Recognition of Proteins by Metal Chelation-Based Fluorescent Probes in Cells.

Fluorescent probes such as thiol-reactive and Ni-nitrilotriacetate (NTA) based probes provide a powerful toolbox for real-time visualization of a protein and a proteome in living cells. Herein, we first went through basic principles and applications of thiol-reactive based probes in protein imaging and recognition. We then summarize a family of metal-NTA based fluorescence probes in the visualization of His-tagged protein and identification of metalloproteins at proteome-wide scale. The pros and cons of the probes, as well as ways to optimize them, are discussed.