FRET-based protein–DNA binding assay for detection of active NF-κB

Abstract A novel method to detect the active form of NF-κB, a transcription factor regulating a battery of inflammatory genes and playing a fundamental role in the development of numerous pathological states, has been developed. In the present work, we used fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to study DNA–protein binding interaction taking place between double-strand (ds) DNA immobilized in a glass capillary wall and p50 proteins. For this purpose, we developed a regenerable FRET-based system comprising of a single-strand (ss) DNA with auto-complementary sequence that is end-labeled with Cy5 dye and is highly specific for p50 proteins. The proteins were labeled with a Black Hole Quencher (BHQ-3) to be used as FRET pair. The interaction of p50/p50 homodimer active form with its DNA binding site was demonstrated by both electrophoretic mobility shift assays and FRET studies. These preliminary results demonstrated the feasibility of the FRET-based DNA technique to detect the active form of NF-κB protein with 90% detection efficiency. In addition, we show that the system is stable and highly regenerable.