Guerrero G, Isacoff E Y
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 271 LSA, MC#3200, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2001 Oct;11(5):601-7. doi: 10.1016/s0959-4388(00)00256-7.
Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been engineered to produce an optical report in response to cellular signals. FP fluorescence can be made directly sensitive to the chemical environment, via specific mutations of or around the chromophore. Alternatively, FPs can be made indirectly sensitive to cellular signals by their fusion to 'detector' proteins that respond to specific cellular signals with structural rearrangements that act on the FP to alter fluorescence. These optical sensors of membrane voltage, neurotransmitter release, and intracellular messengers, including powerful new sensors of Ca(2+), cyclic nucleotides and nitric oxide, are likely to provide new insights into the workings of cellular signals and of information processing in neural circuits.
荧光蛋白（FPs）已被设计用于响应细胞信号产生光学报告。通过发色团或其周围的特定突变，可使FP荧光直接对化学环境敏感。或者，通过将FPs与“检测器”蛋白融合，可使其间接对细胞信号敏感，这些“检测器”蛋白会因特定细胞信号发生结构重排，作用于FP以改变荧光。这些膜电压、神经递质释放及细胞内信使的光学传感器，包括强大的新型Ca(2+)、环核苷酸和一氧化氮传感器，很可能为细胞信号的运作及神经回路中的信息处理提供新的见解。
