The invention is broadly directed to methods for sensitively detecting proximity changes in systems that utilizes an interacting fluorophore and quencher. In such methods, a metal surface is used as the quencher. The metal surface may be a particle or film, such as nanoparticles or a coating, respectively. Such systems provide an increase in sensitivity over previously-described quenchers, offering a signal-to-noise ratio of up to several orders of magnitude. Examples of such systems in which proximity changes are usefully detected include conformational changes in biomolecules resulting from their interaction with their binding partners or ligands. Such biomolecules may be, for example, nucleic acids, proteins, peptides, polysaccharides, or other polymeric, naturally occurring or synthetic molecules. These include, by way of non-limiting example, molecular beacons, which detect particular polynucleotide sequences; antibody-antigen interactions, and conformational changes in proteins upon binding to a ligand or substrate.
本发明广泛涉及利用相互作用的荧光团和淬火剂灵敏检测系统中接近变化的方法。在这种方法中,
金属表面被用作淬灭剂。
金属表面可以是颗粒或薄膜,如纳米颗粒或涂层。与之前描述的淬灭剂相比,此类系统的灵敏度更高,信噪比可达几个数量级。可有效检测近距离变化的此类系统的例子包括
生物分子与其结合伙伴或
配体相互作用所产生的构象变化。这些
生物大分子可以是核酸、蛋白质、肽、
多糖或其它天然或合成的高分子。例如,分子信标可检测特定的多核苷酸序列;
抗体与抗原的相互作用,以及蛋白质与
配体或底物结合后的构象变化。