Quantum-dot antibody conjugation visualized at the single-molecule scale with high-speed atomic force microscopy

Conjugates of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and antibodies have emerged as a promising bioprobes due to their great combination of QD's efficient fluorescence and the high specificity of antigen-antibody reactions. For further developments in this field, it is essential to understand the molecular conformation of the QD-antibody conjugates at the single-molecule scale. Here, we report on the direct imaging of QD-antibody conjugates at the single-molecule scale by using high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM). Owing to the high spatiotemporal resolution of HS-AFM, we observed the dynamic splitting of individual antibodies during the conjugation process. QD-antibody conjugates were also clearly visualized at the single-molecule scale details. Several important features were even discovered through dynamic observation of the QD-antibody conjugates. We observed an intermediate state of conjugation, where the antibodies attached and detached to QDs repeatedly. We also revealed that the attached antibodies were not steady but drastically fluctuated in their recognition areas due to the Brownian motion. We also demonstrated that HS-AFM observation is useful for the quantitative analysis of fabricated conjugates.