Cephalopods are well known for their remarkable camouflage abilities; they can modify their coloration, texture, pattern, and reflectivity to blend into the surrounding environment. Such remarkable camouflage abilities are partially enabled by specialized intracellular nanostructures that are composed of a unique structural protein known as reflectin. We have developed protein expression and purification strategies for the isolation of reflectin isoforms from the cephalopods L. pealei and E. scolopes. We have performed extensive biophysical characterization of these proteins, discovering that they possess unique optical and electrochemical properties. Our findings may hold implications for better understanding the mechanisms that cephalopods employ to dynamically control their coloration.

Biophysical characterization of reflectin isoforms from <i>L. pealei </i>and <i>E. scolopes</i>

248th National Meeting (2014)

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Biophysical characterization of reflectin isoforms from L. pealei and E. scolopes