Effects of Metallic Silver Island Films on Resonance Energy Transfer between N,N′-(dipropyl)-Tetramethylindocarbocyanine (Cy3)- and N,N′-(dipropyl)-Tetramethylindodicarbocyanine (Cy5)-Labeled DNA

Joanna Malicka, Ignacy Gryczynski, Jozef Kusba, Joseph R. Lakowicz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

Resonance energy transfer (RET) is typically limited to distances below 60 Å, which can be too short for some biomedical assays. We examined a new method for increasing the RET distances by placing donor- and acceptor-labeled DNA oligomers between two slides coated with metallic silver particles. A N,N′-(dipropyl)-tetramethylindocarbocyanine donor and a N,N′-(dipropyl)-tetramethylin-dodicarbocyanine acceptor were covalently bound to opposite 5′ ends of complementary 23 base pair DNA oligomers. The transfer efficiency was 25% in the absence of silver particles or if only one slide was silvered, and it increased to an average value near 64% between two silvered slides. The average value of the Forster distance increased from 58 to 77 Å. The energy transfer data were analyzed with a model assuming two populations of donor-acceptor pairs: unaffected and affected by silver island films. In an affected fraction of about 28%, the apparent energy transfer efficiency is near 87% and the Forster distance increases to 119 Å. These results suggest the use of metallic silver particles to increase the distances over which RET occurs in biomedical and biotechnology assays.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)595-603
Number of pages9
JournalBiopolymers
Volume70
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2003

Keywords

  • N,N′ -(dipropyl)-tetramethylindodicarbocyanine
  • N,N′-(dipropyl)-tetramethylindocarbocyanine
  • Resonance energy transfer
  • Silver island films

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