Direct organelle thermometry with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy in single myotubes

Abstract

We describe organelle thermometry using an endoplasmic reticulum-targeting small molecule dye and cytosolic mCherry, whose fluorescence lifetimes reduce with increasing temperature and can be monitored by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. The results show that heat production in single myotubes is highly localized and is coupled to a Ca2+ burst.