Journal
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 131, Issue 41, Pages 14738-14746Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/ja902743u
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Funding
- French Agency of National Research (ANR) [ANR-05-PNANO-045, ANR-08-PNANO-050, JC05_440006]
- Region Bretagne
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- ARC [4474]
- Fondation Pour la Recherche Medicale (FIRM)
- Human Frontier Science Program [RGP0005/2007]
- Universite Pierre et Marie Curie
- Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale
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The use of the semiconductor quantum dots (QD) as biolabels for both ensemble and single-molecule tracking requires the development of simple and versatile methods to target individual proteins in a controlled manner, ideally in living cells. To address this challenge, we have prepared small and stable QDs (QD-ND) using a surface coating based on a peptide sequence containing a tricysteine, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and an aspartic acid ligand. These QDs, with a hydrodynamic diameter of 9 +/- 1.5 nm, can selectively bind to polyhistidine-tagged (histag) proteins in vitro or in living cells. We show that the small and monodisperse size of QD-ND allows for the formation of QD-ND/histag protein complexes of well-defined stoichiometry and that the 1:1 QD/protein complex can be isolated and purified by gel electrophoresis without any destabilization in the nanomolar concentration range. We also demonstrate that QD-ND can be used to specifically label a membrane receptor with an extracellular histag expressed in living HeLa cells. Here, cytotoxicity tests reveal that cell viability remains high under the conditions required for cellular labeling with QD-ND. Finally, we apply OD-ND complexed with histag end binding protein-1 (EB1), a microtubule associated protein, to single-molecule tracking in Xenopus extracts. Specific colocalization of QD-ND/EB1 with microtubules during the mitotic spindle formation demonstrates that QD-ND and our labeling strategy provide an efficient approach to monitor the dynamic behavior of proteins involved in complex biological functions.
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