Computer program for analyzing donor photobleaching FRET image series

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Abstract
Background The photobleaching fluorescence resonance energy transfer (pbFRET) technique is a spectroscopic method to measure proximity relations between fluorescently labeled macromolecules using digital imaging microscopy. To calculate the energy transfer values one has to determine the bleaching time constants in pixel-by-pixel fashion from the image series recorded on the donor-only and donor and acceptor double-labeled samples. Because of the large number of pixels and the time-consuming calculations, this procedure should be assisted by powerful image data processing software. There is no commercially available software that is able to fulfill these requirements. Methods New evaluation software was developed to analyze pbFRET data for Windows platform in National Instrument LabVIEW 6.1. This development environment contains a mathematical virtual instrument package, in which the Levenberg-Marquardt routine is also included. As a reference experiment, FRET efficiency between the two chains (β2-microglobulin and heavy chain) of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I glycoproteins and FRET between MHC I and MHC II molecules were determined in the plasma membrane of JY, human B lymphoma cells. Results The bleaching time constants calculated on pixel-by-pixel basis can be displayed as a color-coded map or as a histogram from raw image format. Conclusion In this report we introduce a new version of pbFRET analysis and data processing software that is able to generate a full analysis pattern of donor photobleaching image series under various conditions. © 2005 International Society for Analytical Cytology