Establishing a nanobiohybrid device largely relies on the availability of various bioconjugation procedures which allow coupling of biomolecules and inorganic materials. Especially, site-specific coupling of a protein to nanomaterials is highly useful and significant, since it can avoid adversely affecting the protein's function. In this study, we demonstrated a covalent coupling of a protein of interest to the end of carbon nanotubes without affecting protein's function. A modified Staudinger-Bertozzi ligation was utilized to couple a carbon nanotube end with an azide group which is site-specifically incorporated into a protein of interest. We demonstrated that Ca(2+)-sensor protein, calmodulin, can be attached to the end of the nanotubes without affecting the ability to bind to the substrate in a calcium-dependent manner. This procedure can be applied not only to nanotubes, but also to other nanomaterials, and therefore provides a fundamental technique for well-controlled protein conjugation.
Biological applications of carbon nanotubes have been hampered by the inability to visualize them using conventional optical microscope, which is the most common tool for the observation and measurement of biological processes. Recently, a number of fluorescence labeling methods for biomolecules and various fluorescence probes have been developed and widely utilized in biological fields. Therefore, labeling carbon nanotubes with such fluorophores under physiological conditions will be highly useful in their biological applications. In this Article, we present a method to fluorescently label nanotubes by combining a detergent and a fluorophore commonly used in biological experiments. Fluorophores carrying an amino group (Texas Red hydrazide or BODIPY FL-hydrazide) were covalently attached to the hydroxyl groups of Tween 20 using carbonyldiimidazole. Fluorescence microscopy demonstrated that nanotubes were efficiently solubilized and labeled by this fluorescently labeled detergent. By using this technique, we also demonstrated multicolor fluorescence imaging of a nanotube-protein hybrid.
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