# mNeonGreen aggregates when overexpressed in C. elegans neurons

## TL;DR

This paper shows that mNeonGreen, a fluorescent protein, can form aggregates in C. elegans neurons when overexpressed, which may cause misleading results in experiments.

## Contribution

The study reveals that mNeonGreen, despite its advantages, can aggregate in C. elegans neurons when overexpressed.

## Key findings

- mNeonGreen forms solid aggregates in C. elegans neurons upon plasmid overexpression.
- Aggregation may lead to artefacts in subcellular distribution or turnover analysis of tagged proteins.

## Abstract

The optical transparency of the nematode
Caenorhabditis elegans
makes it possible to monitor the behaviour of fluorescently labelled proteins in a living multicellular organism. This study investigates the suitability of mNeonGreen as a fluorescent tag for studying proteins of interest in the nervous system of adult
C. elegans
. Despite its reported brightness, stability, and monomeric nature, our findings reveal that mNeonGreen forms solid aggregates in
C. elegans
neurons, particularly upon plasmid overexpression. We anticipate that this property may lead to artefacts when analysing for example the subcellular distribution or turnover of a tagged protein of interest.