Biomolecular recognition ability of RecA proteins for DNA on single-walled carbon nanotubes

A Review of Applications Using Mixed Materials of Cellulose, Nanocellulose and Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been extensively studied as one of the most interesting nanomaterials for over 25 years because they exhibit excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical, and electrical properties. In the past decade, the number of publications and patents on cellulose and nanocellulose (NC) increased tenfold. Research on NC with excellent mechanical properties, flexibility, and transparency is accelerating due to the growing environmental problems surrounding us such as CO2 emissions, the accumulation of large amounts of plastic, and the depletion of energy resources such as oil. Research on mixed materials of cellulose, NC, and CNTs has been expanding because these materials exhibit various characteristics that can be controlled by varying the combination of cellulose, NC to CNTs while also being biodegradable and recyclable. An understanding of these mixed materials is required because these characteristics are diverse and are expected to solve various environmental problems. Thus far, many review papers on cellulose, NC or CNTs have been published. Although guidance for the suitable application of these mixed materials is necessary, there are few reviews summarizing them. Therefore, this review introduces the application and feature on mixed materials of cellulose, NC and CNTs.

Differences in the response of the near-infrared absorbance spectra of single-walled carbon nanotubes; Effects of chirality and wrapping polymers

We detected antioxidant activity of catechin, one of the main components of tea, using SWNTs surface coated with two different biomolecules. Compared to coating with DNA already reported, it can hardly be detected when coated with carboxymethyl cellulose. For nanobiosensing using SWNTs, its sensitivity is not determined only by SWNTs, we found that biomolecules covering the surface are extremely important. In this experiment, we measured the near-infrared absorption spectra of SWNTs coated separately with two different water-soluble polymers; DNA (double-stranded DNA-SWNT complexes) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC, CMC-SWNT complexes), and uncovered the differences in their antioxidant properties against the flavonoid catechin. Each dispersion was oxidized with H₂O₂ at 0.03% (final concentration), following which catechin solutions were added to reduce the samples. Our results showed that the magnitude of the change in the absorbance spectra for dsDNA-SWNT complexes in response to oxidation and reduction was superior to that for CMC-SWNT complexes. The CMC-SWNT complexes exhibited almost no change in their spectra even though the same SWNT powder (produced by the high-pressure carbon monoxide (HiPco) method) was used. On the other hand, when (6, 5)-enriched SWNT powder produced by the ComoCat method was used, no significant change in the absorbance was observed, even though (6, 5)-enriched SWNTs are frequently used for nanobiosensing. Our results revealed that both the SWNT chirality and type of polymer for wrapping SWNTs are important factors for establishing nanobiosensing methods utilizing SWNTs.

A fundamental study of photoluminescence modulation from DNA-wrapped single-walled carbon nanotubes

In this study, we investigated the interaction of base sequence-assigned single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) molecules with the surfaces of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)-thymine (T30)/cytosine (C30) hybrids (T30/C30-SWNT), by measuring the modulation of near-infrared (NIR) photoluminescence (PL). Significant PL shifts were observed when T30/C30-SWNTs were reacted with 30-mers of adenine (A30)/guanine (G30). In contrast, when non-complementary ssDNA was used, no significant energy shift was observed in the PL modulation except when T30-SWNTs were reacted with G30. Furthermore, atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements revealed that the average heights of the T30-SWNTs and C30-SWNTs, after reaction with A30 were 2 ± 0.6 and 1.1 ± 0.3 nm, respectively. This result was in good agreement with the results of PL measurements. Our data reveal that DNA hybridization could be detected by measuring PL from SWNTs, without the use of fluorescent molecules. This leads to the possibility of developing nanotube-based photoelectric conversion or optical switch devices driven by organic molecules.

Scanning Techniques for Nanobioconjugates of Carbon Nanotubes

Nanobioconjugates using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are attractive and promising hybrid materials. Various biological applications using the CNT nanobioconjugates, for example, drug delivery systems and nanobiosensors, have been proposed by many authors. Scanning techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and scanning probe microscopy (SPM) have advantages to characterize the CNT nanobioconjugates under various conditions, for example, isolated conjugates, conjugates in thin films, and conjugates in living cells. In this review article, almost 300 papers are categorized based on types of CNT applications, and various scanning data are introduced to illuminate merits of scanning techniques.

Using a fluorescence quenching method to detect DNA adsorption onto single-walled carbon nanotube surfaces

Surface modification of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with DNA molecules has attracted much attention in recent years to increase SWNT solubility and make various SWNT-based nanobiodevices. Therefore, there is a critical need to quantify the interaction between DNA molecules and SWNT surfaces, particularly the intermediate structures during DNA adsorption. In this study, we demonstrate the ability to detect the adsorption of DNA oligomers on SWNT surfaces by fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescein-labelled, 30mer, thymine oligonucleotides (F-T30) were employed as a fluorescent probe to study the interaction of DNA with SWNTs. A clear quenching effect was observed when F-T30 was adsorbed onto SWNT surfaces. Using this method, the amount of DNA adsorbed onto the SWNT surfaces was measured under different sonication conditions to correlate adsorption efficiency with sonication strength and duration. When a bath-type sonicator was used, mild adsorption of F-T30 on SWNT surfaces was observed. Furthermore, a two-step adsorption was observed in this condition. In contrast, we observed rapid adsorption of F-T30 to SWNT surfaces at the higher sonication amplitude (60% maximal) using a probe-type sonicator, while only slight adsorption of DNA molecules was observed at the lower amplitude (20% maximal). Our data revealed that the quenching effect can be used to evaluate DNA adsorption onto SWNT surfaces. In addition, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) were conducted to provide complementary information on the DNA-SWNT nanoconjugates.

Adsorption of DNA binding proteins to functionalized carbon nanotube surfaces with and without DNA wrapping

We examined the adsorption of DNA binding proteins on functionalized, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). When SWNTs were functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG-SWNT), moderate adsorption of protein molecules was observed. In contrast, nanotubes functionalized with CONH₂ groups (CONH₂-SWNT) exhibited very strong interactions between the CONH₂-SWNT and DNA binding proteins. Instead, when these SWNT surfaces were wrapped with DNA molecules (thymine 30-mers), protein binding was a little decreased. Our results revealed that DNA wrapped PEG-SWNT was one of the most promising candidates to realize DNA nanodevices involving protein reactions on DNA-SWNT surfaces. In addition, the DNA binding protein RecA was more adhesive than single-stranded DNA binding proteins to the functionalized SWNT surfaces.

Atomic Force Microscopy of DNA-wrapped Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes in Aqueous Solution

We evaluated hybrids of DNA and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in aqueous solution and in air using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Although intensive AFM observations of these hybrids were previously carried out for samples in air, this is the first report on AFM observations of these hybrids in solution. As expected, diameters of DNA-SWNT hybrids dramatically increased in tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (TE) buffer solution. The data suggest that DNA molecules maintain their structures even on the SWNT surfaces. Furthermore, we simultaneously observed single DNA-SWNT hybrids using three different AFM modes in air and in the TE buffer solution. Height value of the hybrids was largest in the solution, and lowest for the mode that repulsive force is expected in air. For the bare SWNT molecules, height differences among the three AFM modes were much lower than those of the DNA-SWNT hybrids. DNA molecules adsorbed on SWNT surfaces flexibly changed their morphology as well as DNA molecules on flat surfaces such as mica. This is hopeful results for biological applications of DNA-SWNT hybrids. In addition, our results revealed the importance of the single-molecule approach to evaluate DNA structures on SWNT surfaces.

Physisorption of DNA molecules on chemically modified single-walled carbon nanotubes with and without sonication

We investigated the physisorption phenomenon of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) molecules onto two types of commercially available chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and agarose gel electrophoresis. We found that DNA molecules can adsorb on the water-soluble SWNT surfaces without sonication, although sonication treatment has been used for hybridization of DNA and SWNTs in many previous studies. Using our method, damage of DNA molecules by sonication can be avoided. On the other hand, the amount of DNA molecules adsorbed on SWNT surfaces increased when the samples were sonicated. This fact suggests that the sonication is effective not only at debundling of SWNTs, but also at assisting DNA adsorption. Furthermore, DNA adsorption was affected by the types of functionalized SWNTs. In the case of SWNTs functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG-SWNT), physisorption of ssDNA molecules was confirmed only by agarose-gel electrophoresis. In contrast, amino-terminated SWNTs (NH2-SWNTs) showed a change in the height distribution profile based on AFM observations. These results suggest that DNA molecules tended to adsorb to NH2-SWNT surfaces, although DNA molecules can also adsorb on PEG-SWNT surfaces. Our results revealed fundamental information for developing nanobiodevices using hybrids of DNA and SWNTs.

Protein Adsorption on Hybrids of Thermoresponsive Polymers and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) is one of the most popular thermoresponsive polymers. Adsorption of RecA proteins onto hybrids of PNIPAAm and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) was observed in the presence and absence of DNA molecules. Although RecA molecules were adsorbed efficiently onto the hybrid surfaces at 37°C, even in the absence of DNA molecules, the adsorption of RecA was inhibited at 4°C. These results suggest that the thermoresponsive functions of PNIPAAm were effective, even on the SWNT surfaces, which supports the possibility of developing nanobiodevices using PNIPAAm-SWNT hybrids. However, although RecA is a DNA binding protein, there was no significant difference in the adsorption of RecA onto PNIPAAm-SWNT surfaces with and without DNA molecules. This study provides fundamental information for potential biological applications of PNIPAAm-SWNT hybrids.