Nanobiotechnology Center, ‡Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, and §Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky , Lexington, Kentucky 40536, United States.
ACS Nano. 2013 Nov 26;7(11):9814-22. doi: 10.1021/nn404435v. Epub 2013 Oct 30.
The ingenious design of the bacterial virus phi29 DNA packaging nanomotor with an elegant and elaborate channel has inspired its application for single molecule detection of antigen/antibody interactions. The hub of this bacterial virus nanomotor is a truncated cone-shaped connector consisting of 12 protein subunits. These subunits form a ring with a central 3.6-nm channel acting as a path for dsDNA to enter during packaging and to exit during infection. The connector has been inserted into a lipid bilayer. Herein, we reengineered an Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM) peptide into the C-terminal of nanopore as a probe to specifically detect EpCAM antibody (Ab) in nanomolar concentration at the single molecule level. The binding of Abs sequentially to each peptide probe induced stepwise blocks in current. The distinctive current signatures enabled us to analyze the docking and undocking kinetics of Ab-probe interactions and determine the Kd. The signal of EpCAM antibody can be discriminated from the background events in the presence of nonspecific antibody or serum. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of generating a highly sensitive platform for detecting antibodies at extremely low concentrations in the presence of contaminants.
具有优雅精致通道的细菌病毒 phi29 DNA 包装纳米马达的巧妙设计启发了其在抗原/抗体相互作用的单分子检测中的应用。这种细菌病毒纳米马达的核心是一个截锥形连接器,由 12 个蛋白质亚基组成。这些亚基形成一个环,中央有一个 3.6nm 的通道,在包装过程中充当 dsDNA 进入的通道,在感染过程中充当 dsDNA 离开的通道。连接器已插入脂质双层中。在此,我们将上皮细胞黏附分子(EpCAM)肽重新设计到纳米孔的 C 末端作为探针,以在单细胞水平上特异性检测纳摩尔浓度的 EpCAM 抗体(Ab)。Ab 依次与每个肽探针结合,导致电流依次出现阶跃式阻断。独特的电流特征使我们能够分析 Ab-探针相互作用的对接和脱接动力学,并确定 Kd。在存在非特异性抗体或血清的情况下,EpCAM 抗体的信号可以与背景事件区分开来。我们的结果表明,在存在污染物的情况下,生成用于检测极低浓度抗体的高灵敏度平台是可行的。