The disclosure provides proteins that can be used to determine the redox
status of an environment (such as the environment within a cell or
subcellular compartment). These proteins are green fluorescent protein
(GFP) variants (also referred to as redox sensitive GFP (rosGFP)
mutants), which have been engineered to have two cysteine amino acids
near the chromophore and within disulfide bonding distance of each other.
Also provided are nucleic acid molecules that encode rosGFPs, vectors
containing such encoding molecules, and cells transformed therewith. The
disclosure further provides methods of using the rosGFPs (and encoding
molecules) to analyze the redox status of an environment, such as a cell,
or a subcellular compartment within a cell. In certain embodiments, both
redox status and pH are analyzed concurrently.