Some applications of low temperature luminescence to the study of protein interactions with nucleic acids and sugars

Abstract Low temperature luminescence can be used to obtain information on the interactions between proteins and ligands. Two examples were selected dealing respectively with (i) excited state interactions and energy transfer processes in stacked complexes of aromatic residues of proteins with nucleic acid bases, and (ii) heavy atom effects on the spectroscopic properties of the tryptophan residue in the binding site of a sugar-binding protein.