Determination of oligomerization state of Drp1 protein in living cells at nanomolar concentrations

Biochemistry in living cells is an emerging field of science. Current quantitative bioassays are performed ex vivo, thus equilibrium constants and reaction rates of reactions occurring in human cells are still unknown. To address this issue, we present a non-invasive method to quantitatively characterize interactions (equilibrium constants, K(D)) directly within the cytosol of living cells. We reveal that cytosolic hydrodynamic drag depends exponentially on a probe’s size, and provide a model for its determination for different protein sizes (1–70 nm). We analysed oligomerization of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1, wild type and mutants: K668E, G363D, C505A) in HeLa cells. We detected the coexistence of wt-Drp1 dimers and tetramers in cytosol, and determined that K(D) for tetramers was 0.7 ± 0.5 μM. Drp1 kinetics was modelled by independent simulations, giving computational results which matched experimental data. This robust method can be applied to in vivo determination of K(D) for other protein-protein complexes, or drug-target interactions.