title: Covalent monofunctionalization of peptide-coated quantum dots for single-molecule assays.
abstract: Fluorescent probes for biological imaging of single molecules (SM) have many stringent design requirements. In the case of quantum dot (QD) probes, it remains a challenge to control their functional properties with high precision. Here, we describe the simple preparation of QDs with reduced size and monovalency. Our approach combines a peptide surface coating, stable covalent conjugation of targeting units and purification by gel electrophoresis. We precisely characterize these probes by ensemble and SM techniques and apply them to tracking individual proteins in living cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, CNRS UMR 8552, Département de Physique et Biologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris6), 46 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pinaud
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Beutel
authors.forename: Changjiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piehler
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dahan
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D045663:Quantum Dots
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D010455:Peptides