Improving the Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Response of Fluorescent Proteins: The Symmetry Argument

De Meulenaere, Evelien;Nguyen Bich, Ngan;de Wergifosse, Marc;Van Hecke, Kristof;Clays, Koen;et.al.
(2013) Journal of the American chemical society — Vol. 135, n° 10, p. 4061-4069 (2013)

Files

PUB5.pdf
  • Open Access
  • Adobe PDF
  • 1.77 MB

Details

Authors
  • De Meulenaere, EvelienCentre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium
    Author
  • Nguyen Bich, NganBiomolecular Architecture, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium
    Author
  • Author
  • Van Hecke, KristofBiomolecular Architecture, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium
    Author
  • Clays, KoenLaboratory for Molecular Electronics and Photonics, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium
    Author
Show more
Abstract
We have successfully designed and expressed a new fluorescent protein with improved second-order nonlinear optical properties. It is the first time that a fluorescent protein has been rationally altered for this particular characteristic. On the basis of the specific noncentrosymmetry requirements for second-order nonlinear optical effects, we had hypothesized that the surprisingly low first hyperpolarizability (β) of the enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) could be explained by centrosymmetric stacking of the chromophoric Tyr66 and the neighboring Tyr203 residue. The inversion center was removed by mutating Tyr203 into Phe203, with minor changes in the linear optical properties and even an improved fluorescence quantum yield. Structure determination by X-ray crystallography as well as linear optical characterization corroborate a correct folding and maturation. Measurement of β by means of hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) as well as their analysis using quantum chemistry calculations validate our hypothesis. This observation can eventually lead to improved red fluorescent proteins for even better performance. On the basis of the specific function (second-harmonic generation), the color of its emission, and in analogy with the “fruit” names, we propose SHardonnay as the name for this Tyr203Phe mutant of eYFP
Affiliations

Citations

De Meulenaere, E., Nguyen Bich, N., de Wergifosse, M., Van Hecke, K., Van Meervelt, L., Vanderleyden, J., Champagne, B., & Clays, K. (2013). Improving the Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Response of Fluorescent Proteins: The Symmetry Argument. Journal of the American chemical society, 135(10), 4061-4069. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja400098b (Original work published 2013)