Abstract
Conjugating proteins onto carbon nanotubes has numerous applications in biosensing, imaging and cellular delivery. However, remotely controlling the activity of proteins in these conjugates has never been demonstrated. Here we show that upon near-infrared irradiation, carbon nanotubes mediate the selective deactivation of proteins in situ by photochemical effects. We designed nanotube-peptide conjugates to selectively destroy the anthrax toxin, and also optically transparent coatings that can self-clean following either visible or near-infrared irradiation. Nanotube-assisted protein deactivation may be broadly applicable to the selective destruction of pathogens and cells, and will have applications ranging from antifouling coatings to functional proteomics.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 41-45 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Nature Nanotechnology |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We acknowledge support from the National Institutes of Health (U01 AI056546) and the National Science Foundation (DMR 0642573, CBET 0348613). We also thank R. Planty for assistance with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.S.K. Supplementary information accompanies the paper on www.nature.com/naturenanotechnology.