title: Molecular electronics based nanosensors on a viral scaffold.
abstract: Assembling and interconnecting the building blocks of nanoscale devices and being able to electronically address or measure responses at the molecular level remains an important challenge for nanotechnology. Here we show the usefulness of bottom-up self-assembly for building electronic nanosensors from multiple components that have been designed to interact in a controlled manner. Cowpea mosaic virus was used as a scaffold to control the positions of gold nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were then interconnected using thiol-terminated conjugated organic molecules, resulting in a three-dimensional conductive network. Biotin molecules were attached to the virus scaffold using linkers to act as molecular receptors. We demonstrated that binding avidin to the biotin receptors on the self-assembled nanosensors causes a significant change in the network conductance that is dependent on the charge of the avidin protein.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2K6, Canada. amy.blum@mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Amy Szuchmacher
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.forename: Carissa M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.forename: Kim E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Sapsford
authors.forename: Charmaine D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Martin H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Banahalli R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Ratna
mesh_terms: D001360:Avidin; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D001710:Biotin; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D017798:Comovirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D006046:Gold; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles; D009154:Mutation; D036103:Nanotechnology
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D001360:Avidin; D001710:Biotin; D006046:Gold