Peptide-based fluorescent biosensors.

The use of fluorescent techniques in biological research is widespread. Many of the techniques rely on the use of fluorescent genetically-encoded tags (namely GFP and its different variants), but small molecules and nanoparticle-based approaches are being increasingly used. Peptides, owing to their modular nature, synthetic accessibility and biomolecular recognition potential, offer unique possibilities for the development of efficient and selective fluorescent sensors. In this tutorial review we present several of the strategies that have been used to develop fluorescent-based peptide sensors and discuss selected applications to biological problems.