Springer Verlag, Journal of Fluorescence, 4(4), p. 295-298
DOI: 10.1007/bf01881443
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The physical interaction between plasma-membrane lipids and the epidermal growth factor (EGF)-receptor was investigated on single A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells by monitoring fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between exogeneously added fluorescein-EGF (donor) and 2-(4,4-difluoro-5,7-dimethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene-3-pentanoyl)-1-hexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (Bodipy-PC, acceptor) using donor-photobleaching FRET-microscopy. The measured mean FRET-efficiency of 13% is indicative of such a physical interaction and exemplifies the great potential and sensitivity of time-resolved imaging fluorescence microscopy techniques for the study of lipid-receptor interactions on single cells.