Fabrication of Molecular Strain Probes for Illuminating Protein–Protein Interactions

: A unique bioluminescent imaging probe is introduced for illuminating molecular tension appended by protein-protein interactions (PPIs) of interest. A full-length luciferase is sandwiched between two proteins of interest via minimal flexible linkers. The ligand-activated PPIs append intramolecular tension to the sandwiched luciferase, boosting or dropping the enzymatic activity in a quantitative manner. This method guides construction of a new lineage of bioassays for ligand-activated PPIs.