Published in

Royal Society of Chemistry, Soft Matter, 12(6), p. 2834

DOI: 10.1039/c001686a

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Quantum dot probes for observation of single molecule DNA and a synthetic polyelectrolyte higher-order structure

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots) have advantageous optical properties compared to conventional organic fluorescent dyes. At present, quantum dots are widely used for the observation of cells and tissues, labeling of short oligonucleotide sequences for the detection of hybridization, and other biological purposes. However, the possibility to observe long macromolecules with quantum dots has not yet been examined. In this report we present the results of our investigation on the labeling of long DNA molecules, as well as a long synthetic polyelectrolyte (sodium polystyrene sulfonate), with quantum dots as a first experimental protocol for the quantum dot-based single-molecule observation of long polymer chains. We examined a suitability of Qdots as fluorescent binders to monitor conformational transitions of giant DNA and polystyrene sulfonate labeled with Qdots. The advantages and drawbacks of Qdots as fluorescent probes for polymers are described.