Direct fluorescent staining and analysis of proteins on microspheres using CBQCA.

BACKGROUND: General methods for accurate determination of microsphere surface protein loading are needed for applications from protein arrays to molecular assembly studies. Current methods include bulk absorption measurements of stained microspheres or use of known fluorescently tagged binding partners, which limit sensitivity and general applicability, respectively. METHODS: Microspheres bearing covalently coupled proteins were stained with 3-(4-carboxybenzoyl)quinoline-2-carboxaldehyde (CBQCA) using different incubation times and dye concentrations to determine optimal staining conditions. The CBQCA fluorescence of microspheres (measured by flow cytometry) bearing known amounts of protein were used to generate standard curves of CBQCA fluorescence response versus the amount of microsphere surface protein. CBQCA was also used to stain noncovalent protein interactions. RESULTS: Maximal labeling was attained within 1 h with 1 mM CBQCA. Linear fluorescence response occurred between 8 x 10(4) and 1 x 10(6) proteins/microsphere. CBQCA staining did not disturb noncovalent protein interactions. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed methods using CBQCA and flow cytometry to quickly and simply quantify the amount of protein on the surface of a microsphere. Importantly, this approach could be extended to other formats (e.g., chips). Further, because it does not disturb noncovalent protein-protein interactions, it may be possible to use this approach to detect protein interactions without the use of purified prestained probes.