Near-infrared light emitting luciferase via biomineralization

A new strategy based on biomineralization is presented to rationally tune the emission wavelength of luciferase. In this study luciferase (Luc8) was used as a template to direct the synthesis of near-infrared (NIR) light emitting PbS quantum dots (QDs) at ambient conditions to form a Luc8-PbS nanocomplex. The as-synthesized PbS QDs exhibited photoluminescence in the range of 800-1050 nm, and the Luc8 enzyme remained active within the Luc8-PbS complex. Upon the addition of the substrate coelenterazine, the energy produced by Luc8 was nonradiatively transferred to PbS QDs via bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) and enabled the complex to emit NIR light. This is the first study to form dual functional bioinorganic hybrid nanostructures via active enzyme-templated synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials.