title: Crystallization of fluorescent quantum dots within a three-dimensional bio-organic template of actin filaments and lipid membranes.
abstract: Biological molecules and molecular self-assemblies are promising templates to organize well-defined inorganic nanostructures. We demonstrate the ability of a self-assembled three-dimensional crystal template of helical actin protein filaments and lipids bilayers to generate a hierarchical self-assembly of quantum dots. Functionnalized tricystein peptidic quantum dots (QDs) are incorporated during the dynamical self-assembly of this actin/lipid template resulting in the formation of crystalline fibers. The crystal parameters, 26.5×18.9×35.5 nm3, are imposed by the membrane thickness, the diameter, and the pitch of the actin self-assembly. This process ensures the high quality of the crystal and results in unexpected fluorescence properties. This method of preparation offers opportunities to generate crystals with new symmetries and a large range of distance parameters.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique de Rennes, UMR 6251 CNRS, Université Rennes 1, Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Aurélien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dif
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmutz
authors.forename: Loic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Legoff
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amblard
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marchi-Artzner
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Artzner
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry; D005453:Fluorescence; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D045663:Quantum Dots
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D009842:Oligopeptides; D003545:Cysteine