DAmFRET measures saturating concentrations and toxicities of protein phase transitions in vivo

Abstract

Proteins with complex phase behavior are difficult to study in cells due to low throughput and resolution of fluorescence microscopy. Miller et al. modify a flow cytometry assay–Distribued Amphifluoric FRET (DAmFRET)–to better address this challenge. They find that correcting for cell size heterogeneity using an orthogonal fluorescent proxy of total protein expression sharpens phase boundary measurements and identifies proteotoxic phases.