Photoactivatable blue fluorescent protein (PA-BFP)

Abstract

AbstractThe mutation Y66H on the chromophore of the parental violet fluorescent protein SumireF generated a photoactivatable blue fluorescent protein (PA-BFP) that was irreversibly activated in seconds over ordinary UV transilluminators at 302 nm or 365 nm. The maximum excitation and emission wavelengths of this protein, centered at 358 nm and 445 nm, respectively, resemble the values of DAPI—the blue stain widely used in fluorescence microscopy to visualize nucleic acids in cells. Therefore, the immediate use of PA-BFP in cellular biology is clear because the technology required to analyze this new genetically encoded reporter at the microscopic level has already been established. To our knowledge, PA-BFP is the first photoactivatable protein in the blue range of the visible spectrum.