title: Novel fluorescent protein from Hydnophora rigida possesses green emission.
abstract: Fluorescent proteins are a family of proteins capable of producing fluorescence at various specific wavelengths of ultra violet light. We have previously reported the identification and characterization of a novel cyan fluorescent protein (HriCFP) from a reef coral species, Hydnophora rigida. In search of new members of the diverse family of fluorescent proteins, here we report a new green fluorescent protein (HriGFP) from H. rigida. HriGFP was identified, cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity by metal affinity and size exclusion chromatography. The dynamic light scattering and gel filtration experiments suggested the presence of monomers in solution. The peptide mass fingerprint on the purified protein established the identity of HriGFP. HriGFP had excitation peak at 507 nm and emission peak at 527 nm. HriGFP was similar to HriCFP except the last 16 amino acid sequence at the C-terminal; however, they have shown least similarity with other known fluorescent proteins. Moreover the computational model suggests that HriGFP is a globular protein which consists of 6 α-helices and 3 β-sheets. Taken together our results suggested that HriGFP is a novel naturally occurring fluorescent protein that exists as a monomer in solution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Idrees
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thangavelu
authors.affiliation: Microbiome Analysis Center, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Manassas, VA, United States.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sikaroodi
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Topographic Engineering Center, Alexandria, VA, United States; Microbiome Analysis Center, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Manassas, VA, United States.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sivaraman
authors.affiliation: Microbiome Analysis Center, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Manassas, VA, United States.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Gillevet
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: habib@comsats.edu.pk.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bokhari
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: Cloning; Expression; Hydnophora rigida; Modeling; Novel green fluorescent protein