Ricerc@Sapienza

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) system based on functionalized CdTe-guanine and AuNPs-cytosine bioconjugates for the model nucleobase - guanine detection was developed. Thioglycolic acid coated cadmium telluride quantum dots (QDs) conjugated with guanine and sodium 3-mercapto-1-propanesulfonate stabilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) capped by cytosine were obtained and fully characterized. Successful formation of the materials was confirmed by UV–Vis, fluorescence and FTIR spectroscopies. Composition of the conjugates was also characterized with elemental analysis and XPS.

Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors have been recently applied to the study of biological pathways. In this study, a new biosensor was validated for the first time in live HEK293 and steroidogenic MLTC-1 cell lines for studying the effect of the PDE5 inhibitor on the hCG/LH-induced steroidogenic pathway. The sensor improves FRET between a donor (D), the fluorescein-like diarsenical probe that can covalently bind a tetracysteine motif fused to the PDE5 catalytic domain, and an acceptor (A), the rhodamine probe conjugated to the pseudosubstrate cGMPS.