Green fluorescent proteins as nanometric optical devices for applications in proteomics and biomolecular electronics

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) represents a naturally evolved highly specialized nano-sized optical "device" whose use as genetically encodable fluorescent probes in molecular and cell biology is well established. Molecular engineering of the GFP structure allows for the modification of fluorophore characteristics, and engineered GFP mutants can be designed to solve relevant problems in molecular biology. Furthermore, the realization of an optically bistable GFP variant at the single-molecule level may open the way to the fabrication of a bio-optical high-density storage memory by exploiting bidimensional protein patterning methods based on molecular self-assembly.