Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Marinella G Sandros

Publications and source records attributed to Marinella G Sandros.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Selective, reversible, reagentless maltose biosensing with core-shell semiconducting nanoparticles.

Reagentless and reversible maltose biosensors are demonstrated using ZnS coated CdSe (CdSe@ZnS) nanoparticle emission intensities. This method is based on electron transfer quenching of unimolecular protein-CdSe@ZnS nanoparticle assemblies, which is provided by a protein-attached Ru(II) complex. This Ru(II) complex is presumed to reduce a valence band hole of the CdSe@ZnS excited state by tunneling through the ZnS overcoating. The Ru(II) complex mediated quenching of CdSe@ZnS nanoparticle emission was only decreased 1.2-fold relative to the CdSe nanoparticle systems. While four different Ru(II) complex attachment sites provided different amounts of nanoparticle emission quenching (1.20 to 1.75-fold decrease), all of these attachment sites yielded maltose-dependent intensity changes (1.1 to 1.4-fold increase upon maltose addition). Maltose dissociation constants for these four biosensing systems range from 250 nM to 1.0 microM, which are similar to the maltose-maltose binding protein dissociation constant that these sensors are based on. The increased fluorescence intensity was found to only occur in the presence of maltose. Furthermore, the ability of these reagentless protein-nanoparticle assemblies to perform maltose biosensing reversibly is demonstrated with the addition of alpha-glucosidase. Three 50 microM maltose additions after alpha-glucosidase addition showed increases of 2.2 microM, 600 nM, and 150 nM maltose. This result demonstrates a fluorometric method for examining alpha-glucosidase activity. Using maltose binding protein to control Ru(II) complex interactions with CdSe@ZnS nanoparticle surfaces provide a novel class of highly fluorescent, photostable biosensors that are selective for maltose.

Biosensing Techniques↗

A modular nanoparticle-based system for reagentless small molecule biosensing.

Metalloprotein tethered CdSe nanoparticles have been generated to provide selective and reagentless maltose biosensing. As opposed to cell or protein detection by semiconducting nanoparticle bioconjugates, a modular method for small-molecule detection using semiconducting nanoparticle bioconjugates has been difficult. Here we report a method for reagentless protein-based semiconducting nanoparticle biosensors. This method uses Ru(II) complex-CdSe nanoparticle interactions and the maltose-induced conformation changes of maltose binding protein to alter the CdSe nanoparticle fluorescence emission intensity. In this proof-of-principle system, the maltose-induced protein conformation changes alter the Ru(II) complex-CdSe nanoparticle interaction, which increases the CdSe emission intensity. Altered CdSe emission intensity effects are best described as electron transfer from the Ru(II) complex to the CdSe excited state forming the nonfluorescent CdSe anion. Four surface-cysteine, Ru(II) complex-attached maltose-binding proteins have been studied for maltose dependent alteration of CdSe emission intensities. With 3.0-3.5 nm diameter CdSe nanoparticles, all ruthenated maltose-binding proteins display similar maltose-dependent increases (1.4-fold) in CdSe emission intensity and maltose binding affinities (KA = 3 x 106 M-1). For these four systems, the only difference was the sample-to-sample variation in maltose-dependent responses. Thus, very few surface cysteine mutations need to be examined to find a successful biosensor, as opposed to analogous systems using organic fluorophores. This strategy generates a unimolecular, or reagentless, semiconducting nanoparticle biosensor for maltose, which could be applied to other proteins with ligand-dependent conformation changes.

Biosensing Techniques↗