Tenuta, Silvia (2013) Optical properties and photoreactivity of the Green Fluorescent Protein. A theoretical study. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Item Type: Tesi di dottorato
Resource language: English
Title: Optical properties and photoreactivity of the Green Fluorescent Protein. A theoretical study.
Creators:
Creators
Email
Tenuta, Silvia
silvia.tenuta@gmail.com
Date: 2 April 2013
Number of Pages: 236
Institution: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Department: Chimica "Paolo Corradini"
Scuola di dottorato: Scienze chimiche
Dottorato: Scienze chimiche
Ciclo di dottorato: 25
Coordinatore del Corso di dottorato:
nome
email
Previtera, Lucio
previter@unina.it
Tutor:
nome
email
Rega, Nadia
nadia.rega@unina.it
Date: 2 April 2013
Number of Pages: 236
Keywords: GFP; photoreactivity; TD-DFT; ONIOM; proton transfer;
Settori scientifico-disciplinari del MIUR: Area 03 - Scienze chimiche > CHIM/02 - Chimica fisica
Date Deposited: 05 Apr 2013 06:17
Last Modified: 23 Jul 2014 09:44
URI: http://www.fedoa.unina.it/id/eprint/9364
DOI: 10.6092/UNINA/FEDOA/9364

Collection description

This PhD thesis focuses on the theoretical analysis of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) photochemistry. GFP peculiar properties make it and its mutants ideal noninvasive markers in living cells, suited for numerous applications, like reporter of gene expression, cell lineage tracer, measure of protein-protein interactions, signaling and trafficking in cellular systems and useful in many fields, such as molecular biology, biotechnology or medicine. One of the most interesting aspects in the study of the GFPs is the analysis of their photophysics and photochemistry in order to improve the efficiency and efficacy of their applications. In this work we have performed an in-depth analysis of GFP absorption, combining DFT and TD-DFT with ONIOM method, in order to investigate the relation among structure, optical properties and GFP functionality. In addition, evaluating GFP photoinduced behaviour, we have focused our attention on the proton shuttle triggered by excitation and we have tried to shed light on this complex issue proposing an hypothesis for its mechanism. We have reached a fine control on GFPs absorption, a clear understanding of the photophysics and photochemistry changes induced by the molecular environment and a deep omprehension of the relation between GFP structure and properties. These results allow to achieve highly moduled design of fluorescence and to maximize the potentiality of these proteins and use them in a more effective way to improve bioimaging techniques and nanotechnology.

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