title: Detection of single oxygen molecules with fluorescence-labeled hemocyanins.
abstract: This study introduces a method to detect individual oxygen molecules by fluorescence microscopy of single hemocyanins. These respiratory proteins from a tarantula bind oxygen with high affinity. A spectrometric signature of the oxygenated protein is transferred to an attached fluorescence label, which can be detected at the single-molecule level. This technique opens new perspectives for the development of small and sensitive oxygen sensors as well as for the investigation of cooperative oxygen binding in respiratory proteins.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Physical Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Welderweg 11, 55099 Mainz, Germany. erker@mail.uni-mainz.de
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Erker
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sdorra
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Basché
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D006433:Hemocyanins / Q000737:chemistry*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D013112:Spiders
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D003300:Copper; D006433:Hemocyanins; D010100:Oxygen