BIOLOGICAL IMAGES 

Minerva Biotecnologica 2004 December;16(4):281-8

Copyright © 2005 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Semiconductor nanocrystal probes for human chromosomes and DNA

Xiao Y., Barker P. E.

DNA Technologies Group, Biotechnology Division, CSTL, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Quantum ­dots (sem­i­con­duc­tor nano­crys­tals) ­offer advan­tag­es for bio­im­ag­ing, espe­cial­ly as bio­log­i­cal ­tags for clin­i­cal ­tests involv­ing flu­o­res­cence micros­co­py. Biological imag­ing has tra­di­tion­al­ly ­relied on radio­iso­topes and organ­ic flu­o­ro­phores for detec­tion of pro­teins, RNA and DNA sequenc­es. Although quan­ti­ta­tive, radio­iso­topes ­raise bio­haz­ard and dis­po­sal con­cerns. Organic flu­o­ro­phores ­have ­been an alter­na­tive for vis­u­al detec­tion ­with flu­o­res­cence micros­co­py, but pho­to­bleach­ing has com­pro­mised quan­ti­ta­tion and pres­er­va­tion of pri­mary ­assay sig­nals. New inor­gan­ic flu­o­ro­phores ­called quan­tum ­dots (sem­i­con­duc­tor nano­crys­tals) ­have recent­ly ­offered detec­tion tech­nol­o­gy alter­na­tive to organ­ic flu­o­ro­phores. Luminescent quan­tum ­dots ­have suc­cess­ful­ly ­tracked bio­mol­e­cules and ­cells, ­despite lim­i­ta­tions in cur­rent link­ing chem­is­try. As nano­crys­tal chem­is­try ­evolves, recent­ly sug­gest­ed theo­ret­i­cal appli­ca­tions ­have ­been real­ized. Here we sum­mar­ize the prop­er­ties and appli­ca­tion of nano­crys­tal flu­o­ro­phores to bio­im­ag­ing, and ­focus on ear­ly ­results bear­ing on med­i­cal genet­ics. We iden­ti­fy ­where improve­ments in nano­crys­tal adap­tors and per­for­mance ­will great­ly ­expand the rep­er­toire of clin­i­cal and ­research ­assays ­that ­might ben­e­fit ­from ­these inter­est­ing new nano­ma­te­ri­als.