Anti-biofilm Activity of Graphene Quantum Dots via Self-Assembly with Bacterial Amyloid Proteins

Yichun Wang; Usha Kadiyala; Zhibei Qu; Paolo Elvati; Christopher Altheim; Nicholas A. Kotov; Angela Violi; J. Scott VanEpps

The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. . https://doi.org/10.1101/550285 doi: bioRxiv preprint METHODS Synthesis and Characterization of GQDs. GQDs were synthesized by a modified protocol through a top-down "oxidation-cutting" process. 15 The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. . https://doi.org/10.1101/550285 doi: bioRxiv preprint minutes and incubated for 1 h at room temperature. Stock solutions were divided into aliquots, solvent TFA/HFIP dried with a SpeedVac (Thermo Scientific, USA) at room temperature and stored at −80 °C. Samples were suspended in anhydrous dimethyl sulfoxide (5%) and sonicated for 10 minutes. This preparation yielded PSMs in monomeric form. Image Analysis. Digital images captured from confocal fluorescence microscopy and SEM were processed in ImageJ in the following manner: (1) Using process subtract background, background corrections were made. (2) Using image adjust threshold, a constant threshold level was set across a set of conditions to ensure that enough area of signal was present to identify the target including All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.