Quantitation of Peptides and Amino Acids with a SynergyTMHT using UV Fluorescence

Introduction Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells contain a number of compounds that are fluorescent with UV light excitation. Proteins and peptides, with aromatic amino acids are intrinsically fluorescent when excited with UV light. Many enzymatic cofactors, such as FMN, FAD, NAD and porphyrins, which are also intrinsically fluorescent, add to the protein fluorescence. These moieties have a common trait in that they all contain aromatic ring structures that absorb UV light for excitation. There are also special proteins such as Green Fluorescent Protein, which has an internal serinetyrosine-glycine sequence that is modified post-translationally and is fluorescent in the visible light region.