Evidence for a Specific Microwave Radiation Effect on the Green Fluorescent Protein
Anan Copty 1*, Yair Neve-Oz 1, Itai Barak 1, Michael Golosovsky 1 and Dan Davidov 1
1 The Racah Institute of Physics, the Hebrew Unviersity of Jerusalem
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: copty{at}vms.huji.ac.il.
Submitted on March 3, 2006
Revised on April 5, 2006
Accepted on 4 May 2006
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Abstract |
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We have compared the effect of microwave irradiation and of conventional heating on the fluorescence of solution-based Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). A specialized near-field 8.5 GHz microwave applicator operating at 250 mW input microwave power was used. The solution temperature, the intensity and the spectrum of the GFP fluorescence (i) under microwave irradiation and (ii) under conventional heating was measured. In both cases the fluorescence intensity decreases and the spectrum becomes red shifted. Although the microwave irradiation heats the solution, the microwave-induced changes in fluorescence cannot be explained by heating alone. Several possible scenarios are discussed.
Key Words:
fluorescence, green fluorescent protein, microwave radiation
