The Marriage of Protein and Lanthanide: Unveiling a Time-Resolved Fluorescence Sensor Array Regulated by pH toward High-Throughput Assay of Metal Ions in Biofluids

Zi Yang Lin, Zhi Bei Qu, Zi Han Chen, Xin Yue Han, Ling Xue Deng, Qingying Luo, Zongwen Jin, Guoyue Shi, Min Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

65 Scopus citations

Abstract

A protein/lanthanide complex (BSA/Tb3+)-based sensor array in two different pH buffers has been designed for high-throughput recognition and time-resolved fluorescence (TRF) detection of metal ions in biofluids. BSA, which acted as an antenna ligand, can sensitize the fluorescence of Tb3+ (i.e., antenna effect), while the presence of metal ions would lead to the corresponding conformational change of BSA for altering the antenna effect accompanied by a substantial TRF performance of Tb3+. This principle has also been fully proved by both experimental characterizations and coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) studies. By using Tris-HCl buffer with different pHs (at 7.4 and 8.5), 17 metal ions have been well-distinguished by using our proposed BSA/Tb3+ sensor array. Moreover, the sensor array has the potential to discriminate different concentrations of the same metal ions and a mixture of metal ions. Remarkably, the detection of metal ions in biofluids can be realized by utilizing the presented sensor array, verifying its practical applications. The platform avoids the synthesis of multiplex sensing receptors, providing a new method for the construction of convenient and feasible lanthanide complex-based TRF sensing arrays.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11170-11177
Number of pages8
JournalAnalytical Chemistry
Volume91
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 Sep 2019

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