| Summary: | In this thesis work, several different approach have been taken to solve various biological problems. Chapter 1 introduces a small molecule based approach for the monitoring of sulfide both in vivo and in vitro. Hydrogen sulfide has been identified as the third gasotransmitter, a crucial class gaseous signaling molecules in biological systems. While there were no non-destructive, fluorescent methods for monitoring sulfide in living cells at the time of our publication, we synthesized two different sulfide fluorescent probes that were both selective and sensitive for sulfide. Chapter 2 introduces a series of YAGn copper(I) probes. These probes use the copper(I) regulatory protein Ace1 as a mechanism for copper(I) detection through the insertion of the Ace1 copper(I) binding domain near the fluorophore of YFP. This probe is highly sensitive and selective for copper(I) and demonstrates the utility of a protein based approach for fluorescent probes. Chapter 3 discusses the ModA protein, a previously characterized molybdate binding protein. We discover a new affinity of the protein for chromate and discuss its possible application in chromate removal from contaminated sites. Finally, Chapter 4 analyzes two different approaches for developing a lanthanide binding protein. We explore a computational approach to identify proteins with a possible lanthanide binding region in the PDB and also characterize several proteins from an organism known to require lanthanides for optimal growth.
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