An Introduction to Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) Technology and its Application in Bioscience

BioTek Instruments, Inc. P.O. Box 998, Highland Park, Winooski, Vermont 05404-0998 USA Phone: 888-451-5171 Outside the USA: 802-655-4740 Email: [email protected] www.biotek.com Copyright © 2012 Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) is a physical phenomenon first described over 50 years ago, that is being used more and more in biomedical research and drug discovery today. FRET relies on the distance-dependent transfer of energy from a donor molecule to an acceptor molecule. Due to its sensitivity to distance, FRET has been used to investigate molecular interactions. FRET is the radiationless transmission of energy from a donor molecule to an acceptor molecule. The donor molecule is the dye or chromophore that initially absorbs the energy and the acceptor is the chromophore to which the energy is subsequently transferred. This resonance interaction occurs over greater than interatomic distances, without conversion to thermal energy, and without any molecular collision. The transfer of energy leads to a reduction in the donor’s fluorescence intensity and excited state lifetime, and an increase in the acceptor’s emission intensity. A pair of molecules that interact in such a manner that FRET occurs is often referred to as a donor/acceptor pair.