Metal nanoparticles have recently gained popularity in many research areas due to their nanosize-related properties. Depending on the size of the metal nanoparticle, their mode of interaction with electromagnetic radiation and the outcome of this interaction vary; in turn the effect exerted on a protein which is conjugated to a nanoparticle varies, because different sized nanoparticles demonstrate different modes of energy transfer with electromagnetic radiation and molecules conjugated to them. Very small cluster with sizes around 1 – 1.2 nm tend to get excited by incident light and emit fluorescence, whereas larger nanoparticles absorb the incoming light very strongly due to their LSPR. In this study we observed the outcomes of the interaction between two types of nanoparticles, namely gold and gold/silver alloyed nanoparticles with the fluorescence emission of two fluorophores, namely eGFP and rPhiYFP; and demonstrated a bioassay where the fluorescence modulation by gold nanoparticles can be used as the sensing strategy. Lastly, we demonstrated the potential of autofluorescent gold nanoparticles as intracellular reporters.

Metal nanoparticles have recently gained popularity in many research areas due to their nanosize-related properties. Depending on the size of the metal nanoparticle, their mode of interaction with electromagnetic radiation and the outcome of this interaction vary; in turn the effect exerted on a protein which is conjugated to a nanoparticle varies, because different sized nanoparticles demonstrate different modes of energy transfer with electromagnetic radiation and molecules conjugated to them. Very small cluster with sizes around 1 – 1.2 nm tend to get excited by incident light and emit fluorescence, whereas larger nanoparticles absorb the incoming light very strongly due to their LSPR. In this study we observed the outcomes of the interaction between two types of nanoparticles, namely gold and gold/silver alloyed nanoparticles with the fluorescence emission of two fluorophores, namely eGFP and rPhiYFP; and demonstrated a bioassay where the fluorescence modulation by gold nanoparticles can be used as the sensing strategy. Lastly, we demonstrated the potential of autofluorescent gold nanoparticles as intracellular reporters.