MEASURING DISTRIBUTION OF PROTEINS ON THE PLASMA MEMBRANE

In the simple schematic example shown to the right, a cytoplasmic protein depicted in green translocates to the plasma membrane after treatment (bottom panel).

Similarly, treatment of the same cell population with a different stimulus leads to a change in distribution of the plasma membrane localized protein from diffuse to punctate.

This very simplistic example can be extended to measure the distribution of 4-5 different proteins (each detected via specific antibodies labeled with different color fluorescent tags) across multiple subcellular compartments AND formation of punct within each of those compartments.