A genetically encoded fluorescent reporter of ATP/ADP ratio

A fluorescent sensor of adenylate nucleotides was constructed by combining a circularly permuted variant of green fluorescent protein with a bacterial regulatory protein, GlnK1, from Methanococcus jannaschii. The affinity for Mg-ATP is below 100 nM, as seen for the other members of the bacterial PII regulator family – a surprisingly high affinity given normal intracellular [ATP] in the millimolar range. ADP binds to the same site, competing with Mg-ATP but producing a smaller change in fluorescence. With normal physiological concentrations of ATP and ADP, the binding site is saturated, but competition between the two substrates causes the sensor to behave as a nearly ideal reporter of the ATP/ADP concentration ratio. This principle for sensing the ratio of two analytes by competition at a high affinity site probably underlies the normal functioning of PII regulatory proteins. The engineered sensor, Perceval, can be used to monitor the ATP/ADP ratio during live cell imaging.