Online probing quantum dots and engineered enzyme self-assembly in a nanoliter scale

Nanoparticles provide significantly enhanced binding characteristics. However, fast online probing of the self-assembly process remains hard to achieve in practice. Herein, we report a fluorescence coupled CE method for probing the self-assembly events between quantum dots (QDs) and engineered Jumonji domain-containing protein 6 (Jmjd6) enzyme. QDs and Jmjd6 were sequentially injected into the capillary, where the self-assembly took place in a nanoliter scale. In particular, we showed that the Jmjd6/QD ratio, the interval time, and the injection volume had a great effect on the online self-assembly. The current approach may allow for a better understanding of QDs-enzyme self-assembly and enzymatic activity detection.