Influence of Quantum Dot Labels on Single Molecule Movement in the Plasma Membrane

Abstract

Single particle tracking results are very dependent on the probe that is used. In this study we have investigated the influence that functionalized quantum dots (QDs) have on the recorded movement in single molecule tracking experiments of plasma membrane species in live cells. Potential issues in labeling single molecules with QDs (and other particles e.g. gold particles) are induction of cross-linking of the target molecules, which can cause activation of signaling pathways or reduced mobility, and steric hindrance as a result of the probe size. Cross-linking can be a result of the multivalent functionalization tag (e.g. streptavidin (sAv)) or the presence of multiple mono- or multivalent functionalization tags per QD. In this work, we have compared commercially available sAv-QDs of different sizes with custom prepared Co enzyme A (CoA)-QDs both targeting a GPI-anchored protein modified with either a biotin ligase acceptor peptide (BLAP) or an acyl carrier protein (ACP) tag, respectively. Trajectories of the differently labeled GPI-anchored molecules were recorded simultaneously in dual-color experiments at rates of ∼25 -∼1500 Hz. Knowing the effect of different labels is of utmost importance for simultaneous investigations of different plasma membrane species in order to discriminate the effect of the label from differences in movement of the target molecules.