Nanoparticle-Templated Molecular Recognition Platforms for Detection of Biological Analytes.
Molecular recognition of biological analytes with optical nanosensors provides both spatial and temporal biochemical information. A recently developed sensing platform exploits near-infrared fluorescent single-wall carbon nanotubes combined with electrostatically pinned heteropolymers to yield a synthetic molecular recognition technique that is maximally transparent through biological matter. This molecular recognition technique is known as corona phase molecular recognition (CoPhMoRe). In CoPhMoRe, the specificity of a folded polymer toward an analyte does not arise from a pre-existing polymer-analyte chemical affinity. Rather, specificity is conferred through conformational changes undergone by a polymer that is pinned to the surface of a nanoparticle in the presence of an analyte and the subsequent modifications in fluorescence readout of the nanoparticles. The protocols in this article describe a novel single-molecule microscopy tool (near-infrared fluorescence and total internal reflection fluorescence [nIRF TIRF] hybrid microscope) to visualize the CoPhMoRe recognition process, enabling a better understanding of synthetic molecular recognition. We describe this requisite microscope for simultaneous single-molecule visualization of optical molecular recognition and signal transduction. We elaborate on the general procedures for synthesizing and identifying single-walled carbon nanotube-based sensors that employ CoPhMoRe via two biologically relevant examples of single-molecule recognition for the hormone estradiol and the neurotransmitter dopamine. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.|California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, QB3, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
Abraham G
AG
Beyene
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.|California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, QB3, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
Gozde S
GS
Demirer
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.|California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, QB3, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
Markita P
MP
Landry
D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000379:methods; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon
D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon
fluorescence microscopy; molecular recognition; nIRF TIRF hybrid microscope; nanoparticles; near-infrared imaging; neurotransmitter; screening; sensors; single molecule imaging; single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)