Interaction of a dimeric carbocyanine dye aggregate with bovine serum albumin in non-aggregated and aggregated forms

The interaction of fluorescent dyes with serum proteins has garnered significant interest owing to potential for non-covalent labeling and imaging applications. In this work, dimeric benzothiazole-based trimethine cyanine dyes are synthesized and their interaction with bovine serum albumin studied. The dimeric cyanine dyes mainly exist as H-dimers and H-aggregates in aqueous solution. A combination of absorbance, fluorescence, circular dichroism spectroscopy and atomic force and fluorescence microscopy indicate the formation of dye-BSA complexes. Binding of one of the dimeric dyes on BSA with a K<inf>a</inf> of 1.49 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ results in disruption of dye self-aggregates and unfolding of the dyes into the monomeric or open conformation. Fluorescence enhancement experienced by the dimeric dyes upon interaction with BSA is superior to that registered by Thioflavin T. Surfactant SDS has been used to further tune the self-aggregation of the dimeric dye resulting in a 200-fold fluorescence enhancement in presence of BSA. Interaction of a dimeric dye with BSA under conditions favoring protein aggregation is found to result in faster dye binding and the resulting fluorescence enhancement is easily visualized by fluorescence microscopy. The interaction of a dimeric cyanine dye aggregate with BSA is promising for non-covalent labeling applications in sharp contrast to the monomeric dye counterpart.