Recalled to Life: Resurrection of Diffusion-Enhanced Fluorescence Energy Transfer

Fairclough discusses a triplet of biophysical studies by Metzer et al on the acetycholine receptor (AChR) addressing the role of long-range electrostatic potentials in the binding of agonist and in determining channel pore properties. Metzer et al address the question of electrostatic potential at fixed sites on the AChR using diffusion-enhanced fluorescence energy transfer (DEFET), a technique pulled experimentally from the theory of Steinberg and Katchaski by Thomas et al working in the Stryer lab back in the late 1970s. The DEFET technique offers a wealth of opportunity to probe the local electrical environment almost wherever one can attach an acceptor dye.