Barstar:barnase — a versatile platform for colloidal diamond bioconjugation

Abstract

We report on a bioconjugation platform based on a high-affinity protein pair, barstar:barnase (Bs:Bn), that provides a modular design toolkit capable of strong (covalent) and versatile assembly of bio/nanocomplexes. Luminescent nanodiamonds (140 nm) serve as the docking station to synthesize Bs:Bn bioconjugates which are characterized and utilized in several applications, including cell transfection.