Efforts to model cell biological processes are hampered by a lack of quantitative information on reaction rates, concentration, and stoichiometry. Wu and Pollard measured protein concentrations directly in living cells using fluorescence microscopy. Global and local concentrations of 27 cytoskeletal and signaling proteins fused to yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe were tracked. Used with caution, this method provides a precision measuring tool for quantitative biology.
J. Q. Wu, T. D. Pollard, Counting cytokinesis proteins globally and locally in fission yeast. Science 310, 310-314 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]