title: Self-Assembled Nanostructures Based on Activatable Red Fluorescent Dye for Site-Specific Protein Probing and Conformational Transition Detection.
abstract: Smart and versatile nanostructures have demonstrated their effectiveness for biomolecule analysis and show great potential in digging insights into the structural/functional relationships. Herein, a nanoscale molecular self-assembly was constructed for probing the site-specific recognition and conformational changes of human serum albumin (HSA) with tunable size and emission. A tetraphenylethylene derivative TPE-red-COOH was used as the building block for tailoring fluorescence-silent nanoparticles. The highly specific and sensitive response to HSA was witnessed by the fast turn-on of the red fluorescence and simultaneous disassembly of the nanostructures, whereas various endogenous biomolecules cannot induce such response. The mechanism investigation indicates that the combination of multiple noncovalent interactions is the driving force for disassembling and trapping TPE-red-COOH into HSA. The resultant restriction of intramolecular rotation of TPE-red-COOH in the hydrophobic cavity of HSA induces the significant red emission. By using the fluorescence activatable nanosensor as the structural indicator, the stepwise conformational transitions of HSA during denaturing and the partial refolding of subdomain IIA of HSA were facilely visualized. Benefiting from its activatable signaling, sensitivity, and simplicity, such molecular assembly provides a kind of soft nanomaterial for site-specific biomolecule probing and conformational transition detection concerning their structure, function, and biomedical characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems and Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems and Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems and Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems and Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yulong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems and Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Guanxin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems and Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Deqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems and Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D002942:Circular Dichroism; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008958:Models, Molecular; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D000072417:Protein Domains; D058849:Protein Refolding; D000075462:Serum Albumin, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D013267:Stilbenes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D013267:Stilbenes; C000617116:tetraphenylethylene; D000075462:Serum Albumin, Human