| Description | Because of the long lifetimes of excited fluorescent molecules (nanoseconds), fluorescence can be used to monitor the rotational motion of molecules, which occurs on this timescale. This is accomplished experimentally by excitation with plane-polarized light, followed by measurement of the emission at parallel and perpendicular planes. Since rotational correlation times depend on the size of the molecule, this method can be used to measure the binding of two proteins because the observed polarization increase when a larger complex is formed. A fluorescence anisotropy experiment is normally carried out with a protein bearing a covalently added fluorescent group, which increases both the observed fluorescence lifetime of the excited state and the intensity of the fluorescent signal. Residue modification can be assessed by addition of an antibody which binds to the modified residue and alters the molecular weight of the complex. A variation of this technique has been used to show interaction of a DNA binding protein with another protein. In this case the DNA rather than protein is fluorescently labelled. | Namespace | PSI-MI |
| Obsolete | false |
Ontology Term --> All ancestors
Ontology Term --> All descendants
Ontology Term --> Direct children
Ontology Term --> Direct parents
