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MDPI, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 15(24), p. 12414, 2023

DOI: 10.3390/ijms241512414

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Blocking Nonspecific Interactions Using Y-Shape Poly(ethylene glycol)

Journal article published in 2023 by Zhengyu Xu, Qingtai Li, Yaying Huang, Kaiqiang Guo, Bin Xue ORCID, Yi Cao ORCID, Yiran Li ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Nonspecific interactions play a significant role in physiological activities, surface chemical modification, and artificial adhesives. However, nonspecificity sometimes causes sticky problems, including surface fouling, decreased target specificity, and artifacts in single-molecule measurements. Adjusting the liquid pH, using protein-blocking additives, adding nonionic surfactants, or increasing the salt concentration are common methods to minimize nonspecific binding to achieve high-quality data. Here, we report that grafting heteromorphic polyethylene glycol (Y-shape PEG) with two inert terminates could noticeably decrease nonspecific binding. As a proof-of-concept, we performed single-molecule force spectroscopy and fluorescence staining imaging experiments to verify the feasibility of Y-shape PEG in blocking nonspecific interactions. Our results indicate that Y-shape PEG could serve as a prominent and efficient candidate to minimize nonspecificity for scientific and biomedical applications.