GFP-like Proteins Stably Accumulate in Lysosomes

GFP-like proteins stably accumulate in lysosomes.

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, its GFP variants (Aequorea GFPs), and more recently the novel GFP-like proteins from Anthozoa have greatly advanced our technologies for fluorescently labeling cells, organelles, and proteins. It has been shown, however, that some GFP-like proteins have a tendency to oligomerize and aggregate. Transfection of GFP-like protein...

Alternative Cyclization in GFP-like Proteins Family

Mechanistic diversity of red fluorescence acquisition by GFP-like proteins.

This review aims to summarize our current state of knowledge of several post-translational modification mechanisms known to yield red fluorescence in the family of GFP-like (green fluorescent protein-like) proteins. We begin with a brief review of the maturation mechanism that leads to green fluorescence in GFPs. The main body of this article is focused on a series of main chain redox and beta-...

Exploration of Hinge Residues among GFP-like Proteins

A hinge migration mechanism unlocks the evolution of green-to-red photoconversion in GFP-like proteins.

In proteins, functional divergence involves mutations that modify structure and dynamics. Here we provide experimental evidence for an evolutionary mechanism driven solely by long-range dynamic motions without significant backbone adjustments, catalytic group rearrangements, or changes in subunit assembly. Crystallographic structures were determined for several reconstructed ancestral proteins ...