Self-organization, interfacial interaction and photophysical properties of gold nanoparticle complexes derived from resilin-mimetic fluorescent protein rec 1- resilin

• Published in: Biomaterials 2011, Vol.32 (11), p.2786-2796
• Main Authors: Mayavan, Sundar, Dutta, Naba K, Choudhury, Namita R, Kim, Misook, Elvin, Christopher M, Hill, Anita J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advanced Basic Science; Dentistry
• ISSN: 0142-9612
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.12.030

Abstract In this investigation we report the synthesis of optically coupled hybrid architectures based on a new biomimetic fluorescent protein rec 1- resilin and nanometer-scale gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in a one-step method using a non-covalent mode of binding protocol. The presence of uniformly distributed fluorophore sequences, –Ser(Thr)-Tyr-Gly- along the molecular structure of rec 1- resilin provides signnificant opportunity to synthesize fluorophore-modified AuNPs bioconjugates with unique photophysical properties. The detailed analyses of the AuNP-bioconjugates, synthesized under different experimental conditions using spectroscopic, microscopic and scattering techniques demonstrate the organizational pathways and the electronic and photophysical properties of the developed AuNP- rec 1- resilin bioconjugates. The calculation of the bimolecular quenching constant using the Stern–Volmer equation confirms that the dominant mechanism involved in quenching of fluorescence of rec 1- resilin in the presence of AuNP is static. Photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy was employed to understand the nature of the interfacial interaction between the AuNP and rec 1- resilin and its evolution with pH. In such bioconjugates the quenched emission of fluorescence by AuNP on the fluorophore moiety of rec 1- resilin in the immediate vicinity of the AuNP has significant potential for fluorescence-based detection schemes, sensors and also can be incorporated into nanoparticle-based devices.