Work

Photoresponsive polymer–enzyme switches

Year: 2002

Type: article

Abstract: The ability to photoregulate enzyme activities could provide important new opportunities for development of diagnostic assays, sequential bioprocessing, and lab assays in both traditional and microfluidic formats. We show here that the photoinduced changes in the size and hydration of a "smart" polymer chain coil can be used to regulate substrate access and enzyme activity when conjugated to the enzyme at a specific point just outside the active site. The photoresponsive polymers thus serve jointly as antennae and actuators that reversibly respond to distinct optical signals to switch the polymer-enzyme conjugates on and off, and work when the conjugate is free in solution or when immobilized on magnetic beads.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.262427799

Authors: Tsuyoshi Shimoboji, Edmund Larenas, Tim Fowler, Samarth Kulkarni, Allan S. Hoffman, Patrick S. Stayton

Institution: University of Washington

Language: English

Topic: Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Washington Research Foundation, University of Washington, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service

Award: G2045921578