High-sensitivity single-molecule fluorescence detection in theory and practice

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5048725

Mathies, R A; Peck, K ^[1]; Stryer, L ^[2]

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1. California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Cell Biology

The number of emitted photons that can be obtained from a fluorophore increases with the incident light intensity and the duration of illumination. However, saturation of the absorption transition and photodestruction place natural limits on the ultimate signal-to-noise ratio that can be obtained. Equations have been derived to describe the fluorescence-to-background-noise ratio in the presence of saturating light intensities and photodestruction. The fluorescence lifetime and the photodestruction quantum yield are the key parameters that determine the optimum light intensity and exposure time. To test this theory we have performed single molecule detection of phycoerythrin (PE). The laser power was selected to give a mean time between absorptions approximately equal to the fluorescence decay rate. The transit time was selected to be nearly equal to the photodestruction time of {approximately}600 {mu}s. Under these conditions the photocount distribution function, the photocount autocorrelation function, and the concentration dependence clearly show that we are detecting bursts of fluorescence from individual fluorophores. A hard-wired version of this single-molecule detection system was used to measure the concentration of PE down to 10{sup {minus}15} M. This single-molecule counter is three orders-of-magnitude more sensitive than conventional fluorescence detection systems. The approach presented here should be useful in the optimization of fluorescence detected DNA sequencing gels. 17 refs., 4 figs.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry; Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Cell Biology
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-88ER60706
• OSTI ID: 5048725
• Report Number(s): CONF-8910223-2; ON: DE92001995
• Resource Relation: Conference: BIOTECH USA: 6th annual industry conference and exhibition, San Francisco, CA (United States), 2-4 Oct 1989
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
FLUORESCENCE
DETECTION
FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY
OPTIMIZATION
EMISSION
EXCITED STATES
LASER RADIATION
LASERS
PHOTONS
PHYCOBILINS
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
THEORETICAL DATA
BOSONS
DATA
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY
ENERGY LEVELS
INFORMATION
LUMINESCENCE
MASSLESS PARTICLES
NUMERICAL DATA
PIGMENTS
RADIATIONS
SPECTROSCOPY
400102* - Chemical & Spectral Procedures