Abstract
CALCIUM IONS ' speedy entry into biological cells keeps the heart pumping, neurons firing, and even facilitates fertilization. Now, researchers have developed a small-molecule sensor that can track the location and dynamics of this essential ion in a cell ( Nat. Chem. Biol. , DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2007.4). Oded Tour, Stephen R. Adams, and other colleagues in biochemist Roger Y. Tsien's laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, developed the sensor, which they call CaGF or Calcium Green FlAsH (fluorescein arsenical hairpin binder). CaGF is made of three parts: a phenyliminodiacetate head that binds Ca 2+ , a fluorescein moiety that shines a more intense green when Ca 2+ is bound, and two arsenic atoms that target the sensor to four sequential cysteine residues located on a protein of interest. The concentration of calcium within a cell is not uniform. To better understand this variability, the researchers choose a location in the cell from which to monitor ...
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