earticle

영어

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is the fluorescent protein that is extensively used as reporter protein for the protein expression, as a biosensor, and fusion partner in the field of cell biology. It is reported that the some variants of GFP quenches it fluorescence with respect the concentration of Metal ions such as Zinc and Calcium. Here, we report that our GFP exhibit a Mercury and bismuth sensing property. The fluorescence of the protein diminishes with respect to metal ion concentration. In order to identify the key residues for the metal binding, we carried out structural analysis using bioinformatics tools and we developed point mutants to identify the key residues responsible for the metal binding. Based on this study, we successfully demonstrate that the Cysteine64 of our GFP exhibit mercury sensing property and the residue Thr203 is one of the residues important for the Bismuth sensing.