Gold-nanocrystal-enhanced bioluminescent nanocapsules.

Du, Juanjuan; Jin, Jing; Liu, Yang; Li, Jie; Tokatlian, Talar; Lu, Zuhong; Segura, Tatiana; Yuan, Xu-Bo et al. · ACS Nano · 2014

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Metal-enhanced bioluminescence presents a great opportunity to achieve ultrasensitive analysis and imaging with low bioluminescent background and enhanced luminescence. We hereby report metal-enhanced bioluminescence based on bioluminescent protein nanocapsules conjugated with gold nanocrystals. Such gold-nanocapsule complexes exhibit near 10-fold enhancement in bioluminescent intensity and are effectively delivered into the cells with outstanding stability. This work offers a class of bioluminescent nanoparticles for imaging and other applications.

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