It’s OK to FRET We all experience fret now and then, that is,
worried, distressed, vexed, or troubled feelings and emotions.
Not good. FRET, by contrast, is not so bad when it stands for
fluorescence resonance energy transfer. This occurs when a dye
molecule absorbs light of a particular color, transfers the
energy to a different dye molecule, which in turn emits light of
an altogether new color. And now thanks to work from the
Chemistry Department at the University of Connecticut, we may
have a way to use FRET to create something potentially
practical: DNA lightbulbs. Neret al. produced nanofibers of DNA
containing the two types of fluorescent dyes and showed that
ultraviolet (i.e., colorless) excitation could produce blue,
orange, or white emission, depending on the conditions
(Angewandte Chemie 48: 28 (9 June 2009), 5134–5138). It turns
out that nanofibers are much more efficient (brighter) than
simpler DNA films containing the same ingredients. Structure
matters. Why should you care? Suppose all the bazil