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A prototype nanoparticle biosensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectroscopy was developed to detect drug binding to human membrane-bound cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4). CYP3A4 is one of the most important enzymes in drug and xenobiotic metabolism in the human body. Because of the inherent propensity of CYP3A4 to aggregate, it is difficult to study drug binding to this protein in solution and on surfaces. In this paper, we use a soluble nanometer scale membrane bilayer disk (Nanodisk) to functionally stabilize monomeric CYP3A4 on Ag nanoparticle surfaces fabricated by nanosphere lithography. CYP3A4-Nanodiscs have absorption bands in the visible wavelength region, which upon binding certain drugs shift to either shorter (type I) or longer wavelengths (type II). On the basis of the coupling between the LSPR of the Ag nanoparticles and the electronic resonances of the heme chromophore in CYP3A4-Nanodiscs, LSPR spectroscopy is used to detect drug binding with high sensitivity. This paper combines LSPR and Nanodisc techniques to optically sense drug binding to a functionally stable membrane protein, with the goal of integrating this with microfluidics and expanding it into a multiarray format, enabling high-throughput screening.

Chromophore assisted laser inactivation (CALI) is a technique that uses irradiation of chromophores proximate to a target protein to inactivate function. Previously, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) mediated CALI has been used to inactivate EGFP-fusion proteins in a spatio-temporally defined manner within cells, but the mechanism of inactivation is unknown. To help elucidate the mechanism of protein inactivation mediated by fluorescent protein CALI ([FP]-CALI), the activities of purified glutathione-S-transferase-FP (GST-EXFP) fusions were measured after laser irradiation in vitro. Singlet oxygen and free radical quenchers as well as the removal of oxygen inhibited CALI, indicating the involvement of a reactive oxygen species (ROS). At higher concentrations of protein, turbidity after CALI increased significantly indicating cross-linking of proximate fusion proteins suggesting that damage of residues on the surface of the protein, distant from the active site, results in inactivation. Control experiments removed sample heating as a possible cause of these effects. Different FP mutants fused to GST vary in their CALI efficiency in the order enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) > enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) > enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP), while a GST construct that binds fluorescein-based arsenical hairpin binder (F1AsH) results in significantly higher CALI efficiency than any of the fluorescent proteins (XFPs) tested. It is likely that the hierarchy of XFP effectiveness reflects the balance between ROS that are trapped within the XFP structure and cause fluorophore and chromophore bleaching and those that escape to effect CALI of proximate proteins.

Nanodiscs are self-assembled soluble discoidal phospholipids bilayers encirculated by an amphipathic protein that together provide a functional stabilized membrane disk for the incorporation of membrane-bound and membraneassociated molecules. The scope of the present work is to investigate how nanodiscs and their incorporated membrane receptors can be attached to surface plasmon resonance sensorchips and used to measure the kinetics of the interaction between soluble molecules and membrane receptors inserted in the bilayer of nanodiscs. Cholera toxin and its glycolipid receptor [G.sub.M1] constitute a system that can be considered a paradigm for interactions of soluble proteins with membrane receptors. In this work, we have investigated different technologies for capturing nanodiscs containing the glycolipid receptor [G.sub.M1] in lipid bilayers, enabling measurements of binding of its soluble interaction partner cholera toxin B subunit to the receptor with the sensorchip-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology. The measured stoichiometric and kinetic values of the interaction are in agreement with those reported by previous studies, thus providing proof-of-principle that nanodiscs can be employed for kinetic SPR studies.

A novel one-step method for determining kinetic rates and equilibrium binding affinities, termed analyte gradient-surface plasmon resonance (AG-SPR) is described. A gradient maker or HPLC pump system is used to produce a gradient so that, under continuous-flow conditions, the concentration of analyte passing over the sensor surface increases linearly with time. The rate at which analyte binds to the immobilized receptors is measured by monitoring the change in the surface plasmon resonance minimum as the analyte concentration increases. Kinetic rates are determined by fitting the data to a modified version of the previously described two-compartment model (Schuck, P.; Minton, A. P. Anal. Biochem. 1996, 240, 262-272). Numerical simulations indicate that AG-SPR results in accurate estimates of both kinetic rates and equilibrium affinities regardless of the intrinsic kinetics of the interaction and can be used for systems under mass transport limitations. Simulations also indicate that AGSPR can be used to characterize interactions that do not obey pseudo-first-order kinetics due to the presence of a heterogeneous receptor population. Experimentally, the interaction of cytochrome c with cytochrome b(sub 5) immobilized on a negatively charged monolayer has been characterized by AG-SPR, and both the specific and the nonspecific interactions were quantitatively analyzed. This new technique is advantageous over traditional SPR methods because it eliminates the need for surface regeneration and is significantly faster than traditional titration experiments.

In this report we demonstrate that heterologous protein-protein interactions can be controlled at an immobilization surface by genetically engineering an appropriately de novo designed attachment point on the protein surface.