Conjugated polyelectrolytes : conformation sensitive optical probes for the recording of biological processes

• The physical properties of conjugated polymers can be utilized for a wide range of biosensors. For instance, the conformational flexibility fouud in conjugated polyelectrolytes, allows direct connection between the geometry of chains and the resulting electronic structure and optical processes, since the extension of the π-conjugated system is distorted by conformational changes of the polyelectrolyte backbone. The biosensors presented in this thesis are utilizing conformational changes of conjugated polyelectrolytes for the detection of biomolecular processes, such as biospecific interactions and conformational changes of biomolecules. The methodology have been used for the detection of DNA-hybridization, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in DNA, conformational alterations of synthetic peptides, conformational alterations of Calmodulin and binding of Ca2+-activated Calmodulin (CaM) to Calcineurin, and amyloid fibril formation of amyloidogenic proteins.The method is based on non-covalent assembly of a conjugated polyelectrolyte and a biomolecule of interest. Upon exposure to a second biomolecule recognizing the first biomolecule or a conformational change of the first biomolecule, a conformational alteration of the polyelectrolyte backbone and a change in the electronic properties of the polyelectrolyte occurs, and these alterations can be detected by a change of the absorption or the fluorescence from the polyelectrolyte. Hence, conjugated polyelectrolytes can be used as novel conformation sensitive optical probes for the detection of several biological processes. The biomolecular interaction or the conformational changes of the biomolecule are reflected as an alteration of the geometry and the electronic structure of the bouud polyelectrolyte chains and are detected by absorption and emission. The present mechanism may be used for detection of a variety biomolecular processes, and the simplicity and the diversity of this methodology make it suitable for making inexpensive protein- and DNA-chips for rapid detection of biomolecular recognition.

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