Infinite average lifetime of an unstable bright state in the green fluorescent protein

TL;DR

This study uses Levy statistics to model the fluorescence decay of Green Fluorescent Proteins, revealing an infinite average lifetime of an unstable bright state and providing insights into the aging process.

Contribution

It introduces a Levy statistics-based model to describe ensemble photo-bleaching, offering new understanding of energy scales in protein fluorescence aging.

Findings

Ensemble fluorescence decay follows Levy statistics.

The model indicates an infinite average lifetime of the bright state.

Provides insights into energy scales involved in aging.

Abstract

The time evolution of the fluorescence intensity emitted by well-defined ensembles of Green Fluorescent Proteins has been studied by using a standard confocal microscope. In contrast with previous results obtained in single molecule experiments, the photo-bleaching of the ensemble is well described by a model based on Levy statistics. Moreover, this simple theoretical model allows us to obtain information about the energy-scales involved in the aging process.