화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.111, No.42, 12294-12298, 2007
Direct conjugation of semiconductor nanocrystals to a globular protein to study protein-folding intermediates
In this Article, we study the development of semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots of average diameter less than 2 nm) directly conjugated to a transporter protein human serum albumin (HSA) as fluorescent biological labels. Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the amino acid tryptophan (Trp214) to quantum dot in HSA is monitored to follow the local and global changes in the protein structure during thermal unfolding and refolding processes. This study is likely to attract widespread attention as a powerful tool for the study of protein folding.