Scientists create brighter protein to observe cellular processes

Scientists have created a molecule that emits a turquoise light in living cells three times brighter than previously possible. This improves cellular imaging, allowing a high resolution view of the biological processes of living organisms. The light is a new type of cyan fluorescent protein (CFP). CFPs have been used in observing and mapping cell processes for several years, when they attach to a protein involved in an interaction or conformational change in a cell. However, they have had a weak fluorescence level. Researchers have developed a new CFP, mTurquoise2, which has a fluorescence efficiency of 93 percent. They did this by finding that the molecular structure of CFP reveals that fluorescence efficiency could be modulated by the environment. "We could understand the function of individual atoms within CFPs and pinpoint the part of the molecule that needed to be modified to increase the fluorescence yield" says David von Stetten, who worked on developing the molecule.