title: Voltage regulation of single green fluorescent protein mutants.
abstract: We report the analysis of the fluorescence intensity fluctuations of single proteins of a GFP mutant, GFPmut2, embedded in a polyelectrolyte nanocapsule adsorbed on thin conductive layers. Our results, based on single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, indicate that the fluorescence blinking dynamics of GFP is strongly dependent on the bulk conductivity of the metal layer substrate, on the distance from the conductive surfaces and on the amplitude of the voltage applied to the poly-electrolyte layers. These findings suggest that fluorescence blinking itself might be employed as a reporter signal in nano-bio-technology applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, LABS, University of Milano Bicocca, Piazza della scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cannone
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milani
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chirico
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diaspro
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krol
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Campanini
mesh_terms: D004563:Electrochemistry; D005453:Fluorescence; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D053769:Nanocapsules
chemical_list: D053769:Nanocapsules; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins