Chemistry, Department of

 

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

First Advisor

Jiantao Guo

Date of this Version

5-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Major: Chemistry

Under the supervision of Professor Jiantao Guo.

Lincoln, Nebraska, May, 2017

Comments

Copyright 2017, Wenjia Zhai. Used by permission

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important molecule in living cells for signaling, thus a specific sensor to detect its level in live cells is needed. Currently there are a few small molecule probes for the detection of NO. A common shortcoming of these probes is their unavoidable leakage from the target cells. In this project, I seek to develop a novel green fluorescent protein (GFP)-based biosensor to detect cellular NO. This GFP-based sensor is genetically encodable and can potentially avoid the possible false positive result due to the leakage. I synthesized an unnatural amino acid (unAA) and examined its incorporation into GFP to replace the chromophore-forming tyrosine 66. I also investigated the ability of this unAA to detect NO.

Advisor: Jiantao Guo

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