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Fluorescent Protein-Based Optical Biosensor for Copper Ion Quantitation

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Abstract

In the present study, spectroscopic determinations of copper ions using chimeric metal-binding green fluorescent protein (His6GFP) as an active indicator have been explored. Supplementation of copper ions to the GFP solution led to a remarkable decrease of fluorescent intensity corresponding to metal concentrations. For circumstances, rapid declining of fluorescence up to 60% was detected in the presence of 500 μM copper. This is in contrast to those observed in the case of zinc and calcium ions, in which approximately 10–20% of fluorescence was affected. Recovery of its original fluorescence up to 80% was mediated by the addition of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid. More importantly, in the presence of metal ions, the emission wavelength maximum remains unchanged while reduction of the optical density of the absorption spectrum has been observed. This indicates that the chromophore’s ground state was possibly affected by the static quenching process. Results from circular dichroism measurements revealed that the overall patterns of circular dichroism spectra after exposure to copper ions were not significantly different from that of the control, where the majority of sharp positive band around 195–196 nm in combination with a broad negative deflection around 215–216 nm was obtained. Taken together, it can be presumed that copper ions exerted their static quenching on the fluorescence rather than structural or conformational alteration. However, notification has to be made that some peptide rearrangements may also occur in the presence of metal ions. Further studies were conducted to investigate the feasibility of using the His6GFP as a sensing unit for copper ions. The His6GFP was encapsulated in Sol-gel and immobilized onto the optical fiber connected with a fluorescence detecting device. The Sol-gel was doped into the metal solution where the quenching of fluorescence could be monitored in real time. The sensing unit provided a high sensitivity of detection in the range of 0.5 μM to 50 mM with high selectivity for copper ions. All these findings open up a high potential to apply the fluorescent protein-based bioanalytical tool for copper determination in the future.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported in part by the Young Scholars Research Fellowship from The Thailand Research Fund to T.T. (grant no. MRG5080158), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Bundesministerium fur wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development; BMZ; grant no.GA233/19–1,2) and the annual budget grant of Mahidol University (B.E. 2551-2555). The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Humpf (Institut für Lebensmittelchemie, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität) for his assistance on the operation of CD measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, 2 Prannok Rd., Bangkok-Noi, Bangkok, 10700, Thailand

    Chartchalerm Isarankura-Na-Ayudhya, Tanawut Tantimongcolwat & Virapong Prachayasittikul

  2. Institute of Biochemistry, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität, Münster, Germany

    Hans-Joachim Galla

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  1. Chartchalerm Isarankura-Na-Ayudhya
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  2. Tanawut Tantimongcolwat
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  3. Hans-Joachim Galla
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  4. Virapong Prachayasittikul
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Correspondence to Virapong Prachayasittikul.

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Isarankura-Na-Ayudhya, C., Tantimongcolwat, T., Galla, HJ. et al. Fluorescent Protein-Based Optical Biosensor for Copper Ion Quantitation. Biol Trace Elem Res 134, 352–363 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8476-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8476-9

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