PS-CFP2 is an improved mutant of the photoswitchable monomeric fluorescent protein PS-CFP [Chudakov et al., 2004]. PS-CFP2 exhibits faster maturation and a brighter fluorescence both before and after photoswitching than its parental variant.

PS-CFP2 is capable of irreversible photoconversion from cyan to green fluorescent form in response to 405 nm light irradiation. It is recommended for real-time in vivo tracking movement of individual cells, organelles, and protein fractions [Chudakov et al., 2007]. It can also be applied for monitoring of the protein turnover at the single cell level [Zhang et al., 2007] and superresolution imaging by PALM [Shroff et al., 2007]. In addition, PS-CFP2 can be used as a routine cyan fluorescent tag (excitation maximum at 400 nm and emission maximum at 468 nm) at moderate excitation intensities and as a donor in FRET applications [Souslova and Chudakov, 2006].