Localizing Binding Sites on Bioconjugated Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Semiconductors at the Nanoscale

Hydrogen‐bonded organic semiconductors are extraordinarily stable organic solids forming stable, large crystallites with the ability to preserve favorable electrical properties upon bioconjugation. Lately, tremendous efforts have been made to use these bioconjugated semiconductors as platforms for stable multifunctional bioelectronics devices, yet the detailed characterization of bio‐active binding sites (orientation, density, etc.) at the nanoscale has not been achieved yet. The presented work investigates the bioconjugation of epindolidione and quinacridone, two representative semiconductors, with respect to their exposed amine‐functionalities. Relying on the biotin‐avidin lock‐and‐key system and applying the atomic force microscopy (AFM) derivative topography and recognition (TREC) imaging, we used activated biotin to flag crystal‐faces with exposed amine functional groups. Contrary to previous studies, biotin bonds were found to be stable towards removal by autolysis. The resolution strength and clear recognition capability makes TREC‐AFM a valuable tool in the investigation of bio‐conjugated, hydrogen‐bonded semiconductors.

New insight into protein-nanomaterial interactions with UV-visible spectroscopy and chemometrics: human serum albumin and silver nanoparticles

In recent years, great efforts have focused on the exploration and fabrication of protein nanoconjugates due to potential applications in many fields including bioanalytical science, biosensors, biocatalysis, biofuel cells and bio-based nanodevices. An important aspect of our understanding of protein nanoconjugates is to quantitatively understand how proteins interact with nanomaterials. In this report, human serum albumin (HSA) and citrate-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are selected as a case study of protein-nanomaterial interactions. UV-visible spectroscopy together with multivariate curve resolution by alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) algorithm is first exploited for the detailed study of AgNPs-HSA interactions. Introduction of the chemometrics tool allows extracting the kinetic profiles, spectra and distribution diagrams of two major absorbing pure species (AgNPs and AgNPs-HSA conjugate). These resolved profiles are then analysed to give the thermodynamic, kinetic and structural information of HSA binding to AgNPs. Transmission electron microscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used to further characterize the complex system. Moreover, a sensitive spectroscopic biosensor for HSA is fabricated with the MCR-ALS resolved concentration of absorbing pure species. It is found that the linear range for the HSA nanosensor was from 1.9 nM to 45.0 nM with a detection limit of 0.9 nM. It is believed that the proposed method will play an important role in the fabrication and optimization of a robust nanobiosensor or cross-reactive sensors array for the detection and identification of biocomponents.

A facile route to tailoring peptide-stabilized gold nanoparticles using glutathione as a synthon

The preparation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of high purity and stability remains a major challenge for biological applications. This paper reports a simple synthetic strategy to prepare water-soluble peptide-stabilized AuNPs. Reduced glutathione, a natural tripeptide, was used as a synthon for the growth of two peptide chains directly on the AuNP surface. Both nonpolar (tryptophan and methionine) and polar basic (histidine and dansylated arginine) amino acids were conjugated to the GSH-capped AuNPs. Ultracentrifugation concentrators with polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were used to purify precursor materials in each stage of the multi-step synthesis to minimize side reactions. Thin layer chromatography, transmission electron microscopy, UV-Visible, 1H-NMR, and fluorescence spectroscopies demonstrated that ultracentrifugation produces high purity AuNPs, with narrow polydispersity, and minimal aggregation. More importantly, it allows for more control over the composition of the final ligand structure. Studies under conditions of varying pH and ionic strength revealed that peptide length, charge, and hydrophobicity influence the stability as well as solubility of the peptide-capped AuNPs. The synthetic and purification strategies used provide a facile route for developing a library of tailored biocompatible peptide-stabilized AuNPs for biomedical applications.

Non-covalent synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticle-heparin hybrid systems: a new approach to bioactive nanoparticles

Heparin has been conjugated to Fe3O4, Co3O4, and NiO nanoparticles (NPs) through electrostatic interactions, producing colloidal suspensions of hybrid metal oxide heparin NPs that are stable in water. Negative zeta potentials and retention of heparin's ability to capture toluidine blue indicate that heparin's negative charges are exposed on the surface of the coated NPs. IR results confirmed the formation of nanohybrids as did NMR experiments, which were also interpreted on the basis of toluidine blue tests. Transmission electron microscopy results revealed that the heparin coating does not modify the shape or dimension of the NPs. Dynamic light scattering and negative zeta potential measurements confirmed that heparin surface functionalisation is an effective strategy to prevent NP aggregation.

The controlled display of biomolecules on nanoparticles: a challenge suited to bioorthogonal chemistry

Interest in developing diverse nanoparticle (NP)-biological composite materials continues to grow almost unabated. This is motivated primarily by the desire to simultaneously exploit the properties of both NP and biological components in new hybrid devices or materials that can be applied in areas ranging from energy harvesting and nanoscale electronics to biomedical diagnostics. The utility and effectiveness of these composites will be predicated on the ability to assemble these structures with control over NP/biomolecule ratio, biomolecular orientation, biomolecular activity, and the separation distance within the NP-bioconjugate architecture. This degree of control will be especially critical in creating theranostic NP-bioconjugates that, as a single vector, are capable of multiple functions in vivo, including targeting, image contrast, biosensing, and drug delivery. In this review, a perspective is given on current and developing chemistries that can provide improved control in the preparation of NP-bioconjugates. The nanoscale properties intrinsic to several prominent NP materials are briefly described to highlight the motivation behind their use. NP materials of interest include quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, viral capsids, liposomes, and NPs composed of gold, lanthanides, silica, polymers, or magnetic materials. This review includes a critical discussion on the design considerations for NP-bioconjugates and the unique challenges associated with chemistry at the biological-nanoscale interface-the liabilities of traditional bioconjugation chemistries being particularly prominent therein. Select bioorthogonal chemistries that can address these challenges are reviewed in detail, and include chemoselective ligations (e.g., hydrazone and Staudinger ligation), cycloaddition reactions in click chemistry (e.g., azide-alkyne cyclyoaddition, tetrazine ligation), metal-affinity coordination (e.g., polyhistidine), enzyme driven modifications (e.g., HaloTag, biotin ligase), and other site-specific chemistries. The benefits and liabilities of particular chemistries are discussed by highlighting relevant NP-bioconjugation examples from the literature. Potential chemistries that have not yet been applied to NPs are also discussed, and an outlook on future developments in this field is given.

Conjugation of fluorescent proteins with DNA oligonucleotides

This work describes the synthesis of covalent ssDNA conjugates of six fluorescent proteins, ECFP, EGFP, E(2)GFP, mDsRed, Dronpa, and mCherry, which were cloned with an accessible C-terminal cystein residue to enable site-selective coupling using a heterobispecific cross-linker. The resulting conjugates revealed similar fluorescence emission intensity to the unconjugated proteins, and the functionality of the tethered oligonucleotide was proven by specific Watson-Crick base pairing to cDNA-modified gold nanoparticles. Fluorescence spectroscopy analysis indicated that the fluorescence of the FP is quenched by the gold particle, and the extent of quenching varied with the intrinsic spectroscopic properties of FP as well as with the configuration of surface attachment. Since this study demonstrates that biological fluorophores can be selectively incorporated into and optically coupled with nanoparticle-based devices, applications in DNA-based nanofabrication can be foreseen.

Semisynthetic DNA-protein conjugates for biosensing and nanofabrication

Conjugation with artificial nucleic acids allows proteins to be modified with a synthetically accessible, robust tag. This attachment is addressable in a highly specific manner by means of molecular recognition events, such as Watson-Crick hybridization. Such DNA-protein conjugates, with their combined properties, have a broad range of applications, such as in high-performance biomedical diagnostic assays, fundamental research on molecular recognition, and the synthesis of DNA nanostructures. This Review surveys current approaches to generate DNA-protein conjugates as well as recent advances in their applications. For example, DNA-protein conjugates have been assembled into model systems for the investigation of catalytic cascade reactions and light-harvesting devices. Such hybrid conjugates are also used for the biofunctionalization of planar surfaces for micro- and nanoarrays, and for decorating inorganic nanoparticles to enable applications in sensing, materials science, and catalysis.