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Bioactivation of water-soluble peptidic quantum dot through biotin-streptavidin binding

This paper describes the preparation of bioactive water-soluble fluorescent CdSe/ZnS semi-conductor quantum dots with a small hydrodynamic diameter of 10 nm. These quantum dots are functionalized with a biotinylated peptide that can be introduced at different ratios onto the surface of the quantum dots. Their ability to bind to streptavidin in solution is tested by using gel electrophoresis and fluorescence resonance energy transfer with a fluorescent labeled-streptavidin. The binding of these quantum dots to Agarose micrometric beads coated with streptavidin is also analyzed by fluorescent optical microscopy. A synthetic pegylated peptide is successfully used to prevent the non specific adsorption of streptavidin onto the quantum dots. A specific binding to the streptavidin results in the formation of a very stable streptavidin-quantum dot complex without any significant aggregation. The average number of streptavidin per quantum dot is found to be to 4 at the most. Such bioactivate quantum dots can be further conjugated to any biotinylated biomolecule and used in biological medium.