Molecular tethers that mediate the immobilization of receptors to the sensor surface, carry critical ability to influence sensor outcomes by determining how the receptors are presented to the analyte in the biological medium. An aspect that has however been less explored is the role of flexibility of such tethers in enhancing the efficiency of analyte capture by the receptor, by enhancing its ability to “seek” the analytes in solution. In the enclosed study, we show the length and flexibility of PEG tethers to have a strong influence on the binding of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) or neutravidin (NAv) to tethered amine or biotin receptors respectively. The qualitative similarity in the influence of the tethers, despite the largely dissimilar interactions that drive binding of AuNPs and NAv implies a generic influence at play. The impact of tether length or flexibility is decoupled from that of the density and conformation of tethers, using real-time, quantitative measurements performed using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. Substituting neutravidin with neutravidin-conjugated gold nanoparticles accentuated the impact of the tether length, providing additional possibilities to harness the benefits of flexible tethers by increasing the analyte valency. The results emphasize the opportunity to enhance sensor performance by factoring in the influence of tether structure into the design of the sensor interface.

介导受体固定到传感器表面的分子链具有通过确定受体如何呈现给生物介质中的分析物来影响传感器结果的关键能力。然而，较少探索的一个方面是这种系链的灵活性通过增强其“寻找”溶液中分析物的能力，在提高受体捕获分析物效率方面的作用。在随附的研究中，我们展示了 PEG 系链的长度和柔韧性对金纳米粒子 (AuNP) 或中性亲和素 (NAv) 分别与系链胺或生物素受体的结合有很大影响。尽管驱动 AuNP 和 NAv 结合的相互作用在很大程度上不同，但系链影响的定性相似性暗示了一种普遍的影响在起作用。使用石英晶体微天平 (QCM) 和表面等离子体共振 (SPR) 传感器进行实时定量测量，系绳长度或柔韧性的影响与系绳的密度和构象无关。用中性链亲和素偶联的金纳米粒子替代中性链亲和素，强调了系链长度的影响，提供了通过增加分析物化合价来利用柔性链的好处的额外可能性。结果强调了通过将系绳结构的影响考虑到传感器接口的设计中来提高传感器性能的机会。用中性链亲和素偶联的金纳米粒子替代中性链亲和素，强调了系链长度的影响，提供了通过增加分析物化合价来利用柔性链的好处的额外可能性。结果强调了通过将系绳结构的影响考虑到传感器接口的设计中来提高传感器性能的机会。用中性链亲和素偶联的金纳米粒子替代中性链亲和素，强调了系链长度的影响，提供了通过增加分析物化合价来利用柔性链的好处的额外可能性。结果强调了通过将系绳结构的影响考虑到传感器接口的设计中来提高传感器性能的机会。