Multi‐Colored Fibers by Self‐Assembly of DNA, Histone Proteins, and Cationic Conjugated Polymers

Abstract

The development of biomolecular fiber materials with imaging ability has become more and more useful for biological applications. In this work, cationic conjugated polymers (CCPs) were used to construct inherent fluorescent microfibers with natural biological macromolecules (DNA and histone proteins) through the interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation (IPC) procedure. Isothermal titration microcalorimetry results show that the driving forces for fiber formation are electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, as well as the release of counterions and bound water molecules. Color-encoded IPC fibers were also obtained based on the co-assembly of DNA, histone proteins, and blue-, green-, or red- (RGB-) emissive CCPs by tuning the fluorescence resonance energy-transfer among the CCPs at a single excitation wavelength. The fibers could encapsulate GFP-coded Escherichia coli BL21, and the expression of GFP proteins was successfully regulated by the external environment of the fibers. These multi-colored fibers show a great potential in biomedical applications, such as biosensor, delivery, and release of biological molecules and tissue engineering.

NIR‐Mediated Nanohybrids of Upconversion Nanophosphors and Fluorescent Conjugated Polymers for High‐Efficiency Antibacterial Performance Based on Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer

“…Herein, by taking the advantages of β‐NaYF 4 :Yb,Tm UCNPs as efficient NIR light absorbing material and a fluorescent conjugated polymer, poly[9,9‐bis(6,6‐( N , N , N ‐trimethylaminium)‐fluorene‐2,7‐ylenevinylene‐co‐alt‐2,5‐dicyano‐1,4‐phenylene] (PFVCN), as a photosensitizer to enhance antibacterial activity, we have fabricated a new UCNP/PFVCN nanohybrid for antibacterial, which benefit from the highly effective fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from UCNPs to PFVCN. FRET technique is an electrodynamic phenomenon and is attractive due to its simple operation and use of standard optical equipment, which has been widely used in DNA analysis, medical diagnosis, and optical imaging . β‐NaYF 4 :Yb,Tm is one of the most efficient NIR‐to‐visible UCNPs, and its emission spectrum is well overlapped with the absorption spectrum of PFVCN .…”

A Salt Controlled Scalable Approach for Formation of Polyelectrolyte Complex Fiber†

“…developed the single‐interface drawing to multi‐interface drawing, which can incorporate several components into PEC fiber . Wang and coworkers also prepared multi‐colored PEC fibers by assembling DNA or histone protein with cationic conjugated polymers . Recently, new polyelectrolyte pairs, including mini‐spidroin/gellan gum and glycosaminoglycan/ collagen, were adopted for PEC fiber preparation .…”

Fluorescent Platforms Based on Organic Molecules for Chemical and Biological Detection

“…By simply varying the ratio of CN and PFDBT‐BIMEG, a high FRET efficiency enabled a bright fluorescence signal, which was tunable over the visible‐light spectrum . Wang's group synthesized cationic conjugated polyelectrolytes, which emitted blue, green, orange, and red fluorescence . Electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions were used to drive the assembly of conjugated polyelectrolyte with DNA and histone to form fibers.…”