Palladium(II)-coproporphyrin I as a photoactivable group in sequence-specific modification of nucleic acids by oligonucleotide derivatives

The 34-mer oligodeoxynucleotide was shown to be selectively modified at the G17 position upon photoirradiation in the presence of complementary 17-mer oligodeoxynucleotide bearing Pd(II)-coproporphyrin I covalently linked to the 5'-end phosphate group.     

Fluorescent Properties of Firefly Luciferases and Their Complexes with Luciferin

Fluorescence of luciferases from Luciola mingrelica (single tryptophanresidue, Trp-419) and Photinus pyralis (two tryptophan residues, Trp-417,Trp-426) was studied. Analysis of quenching of tryptophan fluorescenceshowed that the tryptophan residue conserved in all luciferases is notaccessible for charged quenchers, which is explained by the presence ofpositively and negatively charged amino acid residues in the close vicinityto it. An effective energy transfer from tryptophan to luciferin wasobserved during quenching of tryptophan fluorescence of both luciferaseswith luciferin. From the data on the energy transfer, the distance betweenthe luciferin molecule and Trp-417 (419) in the luciferin–luciferasecomplex was calculated: 11–15 for P. pyralis and 12–17 for L. mingrelica luciferases. The role of the conserved Trp residuein the catalysis is discussed.     

Key Amino Acid Residues Responsible for the Color of Green and Yellow Fluorescent Proteins from the Coral Polyp Zoanthus sp.

Site-directed mutagenesis was used to study the structural basis of color diversity of fluorescent proteins by the example of two closely related proteins from one organism (coral polyp Zoanthus sp.), one of which produces green and the other, yellow fluorescence. As a result, the following conversions of emission colors were performed: from yellow to green, from yellow to a dual color (yellow and green), and from green to yellow. The saltatory character of the spectral transitions and the manifestation of the dual-color fluorescence suggest that chemically different fluorophores are responsible for the green and yellow fluorescence. The simultaneous presence of three residues, Gly63, Lys65, and Asp68, is necessary for the efficient formation of the yellow rather than green fluorophore.     

Fluorescence of tryptophan residues in firefly luciferases and enzyme--substrate complexes

Quenching of tryptophan fluorescence of Luciola mingrelica (single tryptophan residue, Trp-419) and Photinus pyralis (two tryptophan residues, Trp-417 and Trp-426) luciferases with different quenchers (I-, Cs+, acrylamide) was studied. The conserved Trp-417(419) residue was shown to be not accessible to charged particles, and positively and negatively charged amino acid residues are located in close vicinity to it. We found previously unreported effective energy transfer from this tryptophan to luciferin during the quenching of the tryptophan fluorescence. The distance between the luciferin molecule and Trp-417(419) was calculated: 11-15 and 12-17 A for P. pyralis and L. mingrelica luciferases, respectively. The role of the conserved Trp residue in the catalysis is discussed. ATP and AMP are also quenchers of the tryptophan fluorescence of the luciferases. In this case, an allosteric mechanism of the interaction of Trp-417(419) with an excess of ATP (AMP) is proposed.     

Induction-resonance energy transfer between the terbium-binding peptide and the red fluorescent proteins DsRed2 and TagRFP

Two novel FRET-pairs: Tb³⁺-binding peptide-DsRed2 and Tb³⁺-binding peptide-TagRFP have been produced based on the terbium-binding peptide and the red fluorescent proteins DsRed2 and TagRFP. Two induction-resonance energy transfer processes in both FRET-pairs have been registered, from tryptophan of the terbium-binding peptide to Tb³⁺ and from sensitized Tb³⁺ to the acceptor, the chromophore, DsRed2 or TagRFP. The lifetimes of terbium in the presence and absence of the acceptor have been determined. It has been shown that the lifetime of Tb³⁺ in the presence of 150 mM NaCl decreases in both FRET-pairs. The efficiency of fluorescent resonance transfer from Tb³⁺ to the acceptor proteins is 28 and 35% for Tb³⁺-binding peptide-DsRed2 and Tb³⁺-binding peptide-TagRFP, respectively.     

Different mechanisms of telomere length regulation

Eukaryotic chromosomes are linear and have their, ends formed by DNA-protein structures, telomeres. At present more and more facts demonstrate the diversity of telomere functions. Telomeres protect the chromosome ends from degradation, fusion, recombination, and from the repair system that recognizes nicks in DNA strands. As shown recently, shortening of the telomeres is a cause of cell aging. In most organisms, telomeres are elongated by means of a special ribonucleoprotein complex; however, in some insects this takes place by either gene conversion or transposition of mobile elements. Evolutionary relations between different types of telomeres are discussed.