BIOL 100 |
| Proteins form highly organized macromolecular assemblies for effective performance of most biological functions. Therefore information about the structures and locations of these assemblies is very essential. High resolution electron microscopy (EM) using site-specific gold labels have been successfully applied to imaging proteins and protein assemblies for identification of their structural details. For this purpose water-soluble photoactive gold nanoparticles have been designed and synthesized. Trifluoromethyl diazirinyl group, generating carbene intermediates as an active species, was used as a photophore to provide protein cross-linkage. Excellent chemical stability and photolysis at wavelength beyond the UV absorbance region of proteins makes trifluoromethyl diazirinyl group very promising candidate for protein labeling. The synthesis and characterization of the photoactive gold nanoparticles as well as preliminary studies of protein labeling will be discussed. |
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Frontiers in Chemical Biology
5:00 PM-7:00 PM, Sunday, August 19, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster
Division of Biological Chemistry |