Posted on 04/26/2009 11:37:22 PM PDT by neverdem
Biologists’ favorite glowing marker may play a role in cellular business
Green fluorescent protein, the darling of cell biologists and biomedical researchers, may do more than give off light. When the protein fluoresces — allowing researchers to see where cells and proteins boldly glow in petri dishes and living organisms — it also gives up electrons, a team reports online April 26 in Nature Chemical Biology. The research suggests a possible new function of the protein; its normal role has remained a puzzle despite its widespread use in laboratories.
“This is a totally unexpected twist,” comments Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas at Austin. “This is an extremely important piece of the most basic information that was missing for so long.”
Isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria in 1962, green fluorescent protein, or GFP, has since become a standard tool for observing the various goings-on of cells. Because the protein glows when it’s hit with blue light, scientists can use it as a beacon, attaching it to a molecule whose fate they want to follow. The three researchers who isolated and developed GFP as a tool shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
While scientists take advantage of GFP for research, the role it and related fluorescent proteins play in corals, jellyfish and other creatures has remained a riddle. Proposed functions include using the protein as a signal to mates, a warning to predators, a protective sunscreen and a way to sense light.
The new work adds another possibility to the mix — photoreduction — the light-prompted passing of electrons...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
Green fluorescent proteins are light-induced electron donors
Nature chem bio wouldn't cough up the abstract. I had to find the DOI first. This might get a Nobel.
A little air pollution boosts vegetation’s carbon uptake
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
GFP Ping!!
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