Carbonic anhydrase II-based metal ion sensing: Advances and new perspectives

Carbonic anhydrases are archetypical zinc metalloenzymes and as such, they have been developed as the recognition element of a family of fluorescent indicators (sensors) to detect metal ions, particularly Zn(2+) and Cu(2+). Subtle modification of the structure of human carbonic anhydrase II isozyme (CAII) alters the selectivity, sensitivity, and response time for these sensors. Sensors using CAII variants coupled with zinc-dependent fluorescent ligands demonstrate picomolar sensitivity, unmatched selectivity, ratiometric fluorescence signal, and near diffusion-controlled response times. Recently, these sensors have been applied to measuring the readily exchangeable concentrations of zinc in the cytosol and nucleus of mammalian tissue culture cells and concentrations of free Cu(2+) in seawater.