SGER: Fluorescent Proteins from Pacific Marine Invertebrates

John B Pierce Foundation Of Conn Inc, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Green fluorescent protein is a member of a unique family of proteins currently identified only in marine invertebrates (corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish). Upon translation, the peptide backbone of these proteins spontaneously form a compact, soluble structure that forces the autocatalysis of 3 inner amino acids forming a visible light fluorescent chromophore. These are the only known proteins that spontaneously produce a visible light fluorophore without the aid of exogenous cellular factors. Scientists have attached the cDNA sequences encoding these proteins to a number of proteins of interest in organisms ranging from viruses to plants to mammals. Virtually all organisms studied are capable of synthesizing these fluorescent proteins. Fluorescent proteins are now widely used by biomedical scientists as tools to understand the localization and function of an impressive array of proteins in a vast range of experimental organisms. As the range of research utilizing these proteins grows, the currently available collection of fluorescent proteins presents sever limitations on the types of experiments possible. This research will seek to identify novel fluorescent proteins from marine animals living in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Using a combination of underwater fluorescence imaging/spectral analysis of reef animals and molecular cloning, this research will survey, catalog and characterize fluorescence in the coral reef environment. In addition to providing a large number of new fluorescent proteins with differing biochemical and spectral properties for use in biomedical research, these studies will help reveal the role of these proteins in the ecology of the animals that produce them.