title: Molecular beacon-quantum dot-Au nanoparticle hybrid nanoprobes for visualizing virus replication in living cells.
abstract: Here we describe a new hybrid fluorescent nanoprobe composed of a nuclease-resistant molecular beacon (MB) backbone, CdSe-ZnS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) as donors, and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) as quenchers, for the real-time visualization of virus replication in living cells. By using a Au NP-MB to QD ratio of 6 : 1, a 7.3-fold increase in fluorescent signal was achieved upon target binding. For living cell experiments, a hexahistidine-appended Tat peptide was self-assembled onto the QD surface to provide nearly 100% non-invasive delivery of the QD-MB-Au NP probes within 2 h. By directly visualizing the fluorescent complexes formed with the newly synthesized viral RNA, this QD-MB-Au NP probe provided sensitive and real-time detection of infectious viruses as well as the real-time visualization of cell-to-cell virus spreading.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Yun
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Marylynn V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Yates
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mulchandani
authors.forename: Wilfred
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D029822:Enterovirus B, Human / Q000502:physiology; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D012367:RNA, Viral; D006046:Gold