The antenna is five nanometers in length. This minuscule thing isn't made to transmit radio waves, but to glean the secrets of ever-changing proteins.
The tiny molecule that makes up the nanoantenna is 20,000 times smaller than a human hair. It uses light signals to record and report information.
Light signals can be used to study the movement and change of the proteins.
The way in which the receiver part of the antenna is used is part of the innovation. That signals when theProtein is fulfilling its biological function.
"Like a two-way radio that can both receive and transmit radio waves, the fluorescent nanoantenna receives light in one color, or wavelength, and depending on theProtein movement it senses, then transmits light back in another color, which we can detect," says chemist Alexis Vallée-
Structural changes in proteins are measured by the antenna. The immune system and the function of organs are some of the things that are carried out by the large, complex molecule called a proteins.
As they rush about doing their jobs, the proteins undergo constant changes in structure, transitioning from state to state in a highly complex process scientists callProtein dynamics. We don't have good tools to track these dynamics.
The team says that high-resolution techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray crystallography, can't be used to study short-lived protein states.
40 years of development has resulted in the latest DNA synthesis technology that can produce tailored nanostructures of different lengths and flexibilities.
One advantage that this antenna has over other methods is that it can capture very short-lived protein states. The researchers say that there are plenty of potential applications here.
"For the first time, we were able to detect the function of the alkaline phosphatase with a variety of biological molecules and drugs," says chemist Scott Harroun, from UdeM. "This is anidase that has been implicated in many diseases, including cancer and inflammation."
One of the advantages of the new antenna is that it can be used for many different types of cells.
The team writes in their paper that "nanoantennas can be used to monitor distinct biomolecular mechanisms in real time, including small and large conformational changes."
The antenna in this study was created using DNA as a building block, and it is becoming more and more popular as a building block. It is easy to program and use DNA chemistry.
The researchers want to create a commercial startup so that the technology can be packaged and used by others.
"Perhaps what we are most excited by is the fact that many labs around the world, equipped with a conventional spectrofluorometer, could easily use these nanoantennas to study their favorite proteins, such as to identify new drugs or to develop new nanotechnologies," says Vallée-B
The research has been published.
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