Fluorescent Protein Probes in Fungi

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the array of fluorescent proteins that are currently available and how they have been employed for investigating fungal-cell biology and phytopathology. It discusses fluorescence-based imaging techniques such as confocal microscopy, multiphoton microscopy, and spectral imaging. The chapter discusses applications of more sophisticated fluorescent protein-based technologies and focuses on what these techniques will bring to these disciplines. Though many of the fluorescent protein-based approaches have not been used with filamentous fungi, exploitation of the full repertoire of techniques will, eventually, advance the science all the more. The potential growth in use of these technologies for fungi is reflected in the increase in the number of citations in the literature over the past few years. Fluorescent proteins are being used in a variety of fungal research areas from basic-cell biology to biotechnology to ecological studies of plant symbionts and soil-inhabiting fungi.