Enhanced and tunable fluorescent quantum dots within a single crystal of protein

The design and synthesis of bio-nano hybrid materials can not only provide new materials with novel properties, but also advance our fundamental understanding of interactions between biomolecules and their abiotic counterparts. Here, we report a new approach to achieving such a goal by growing CdS quantum dots （QDs） within single crystals of lysozyme protein. This bio-nano hybrid emitted much stronger red fluorescence than its counterpart without the crystal, and such fluorescence properties could be either enhanced or suppressed by the addition of Ag（I） or Hg（II）, respectively. The three-dimensional incorporation of CdS QDs within the lysozyme crystals was revealed by scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron tomography. More importantl~ since our approach did not disrupt the crystalline nature of the lysozyme crystals, the metal and protein interactions were able to be studied by X-ray crystallography, thus providing insight into the role of Cd（II） in the CdS QDs formation.

bio-nano 混血儿材料的设计和合成不能仅仅向新材料提供新奇性质，而且推进我们在 biomolecules 和他们的不能生活的对应物之间的相互作用的基本理解。这里，我们向由在溶解酵素蛋白质的单个晶体以内种 CdS 量点(QD ) 达到如此的一个目标汇报一条新途径。这个 bio-nano 混血儿比它没有水晶的对应物，和如此的荧光性质能是 Ag (I) 或 Hg (II ) 的增加分别地提高或压制的任何一个的射出许多更强壮的红荧光。在溶解酵素晶体以内的 CdS QD 的三维的加入被与电子断层摄影术扫描传播电子显微镜学揭示。更重要地，自从我们的途径没破坏溶解酵素晶体的水晶的性质，金属和蛋白质相互作用能被 X 光检查晶体学学习，因此在 CdS QD 形成提供卓见进 Cd (II ) 的角色。