Why BRET?
The key advantage is that protein-interactions can be detected
- easily
- in vivo
- in planta
- in real time
- in a signal-dependent fashion
Biophysically, BRET is related to the more established phenomenon of Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). However, FRET is typically implemented as a microscopic imaging technique whereas BRET does not require imaging. Instead, BRET data are most easily collected in a sensitive luminometer by calculating the ratio of luminescent photons that pass through two different filters. BRET imaging is also being developed, however.