Protamine-induced biosilica as efficient enzyme immobilization carrier with high loading and improved stability

Recent Progress in Diatom Biosilica: A Natural Nanoporous Silica Material as Sustained Release Carrier

A drug delivery system (DDS) is a useful technology that efficiently delivers a target drug to a patient's specific diseased tissue with minimal side effects. DDS is a convergence of several areas of study, comprising pharmacy, medicine, biotechnology, and chemistry fields. In the traditional pharmacological concept, developing drugs for disease treatment has been the primary research field of pharmacology. The significance of DDS in delivering drugs with optimal formulation to target areas to increase bioavailability and minimize side effects has been recently highlighted. In addition, since the burst release found in various DDS platforms can reduce drug delivery efficiency due to unpredictable drug loss, many recent DDS studies have focused on developing carriers with a sustained release. Among various drug carriers, mesoporous silica DDS (MS-DDS) is applied to various drug administration routes, based on its sustained releases, nanosized porous structures, and excellent solubility for poorly soluble drugs. However, the synthesized MS-DDS has caused complications such as toxicity in the body, long-term accumulation, and poor excretion ability owing to acid treatment-centered manufacturing methods. Therefore, biosilica obtained from diatoms, as a natural MS-DDS, has recently emerged as an alternative to synthesized MS-DDS. This natural silica carrier is an optimal DDS platform because culturing diatoms is easy, and the silica can be separated from diatoms using a simple treatment. In this review, we discuss the manufacturing methods and applications to various disease models based on the advantages of biosilica.

Silica nanostructures synthesis and CdTe quantum dots immobilization for photocatalytical applications

A new strategy for the immobilization of semiconductor nanocrystals by carrying out in simultaneous the biomimetic synthesis of silica nanostructures and the encapsulation of MPA-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs).

Incorporating mobile nanospheres in the lumen of hybrid microcapsules for enhanced enzymatic activity

Physical encapsulation of enzymes in microcapsules, as a mild, controllable method, has been widely utilized for enzyme immobilization. However, this method often suffers from the big mass transfer resistance from the capsule lumen. In this study, a novel biocatalysis system with enhanced catalytic activity is constructed through coencapsulating enzymes and nanospheres in the lumen of protamine/silica hybrid microcapsules, which are synthesized through the synergy of biomimetic silicification and layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly. When utilized as the host for catalase (CAT) encapsulation, the hybrid microcapsules maintain high mechanical stability, high enzyme loading, and low enzyme leaching. Particularly, because of the existence of mobile nanospheres, the mass transfer resistance in the microcapsules is significantly reduced because of the vigorous agitation, thus acquiring an enhanced catalytic activity. Our strategy may also find applications in drug delivery and biosensor fields.

Common causes of glucose oxidase instability in in vivo biosensing: a brief review

Clinical management of diabetes must overcome the challenge of in vivo glucose sensors exhibiting lifetimes of only a few days. Limited sensor life originates from compromised enzyme stability of the sensing enzyme. Sensing enzymes degrade in the presence of low molecular weight materials (LMWM) and hydrogen peroxide in vivo. Sensing enzymes could be made to withstand these degradative effects by (1) stabilizing the microenvironment surrounding the sensing enzyme or (2) improving the structural stability of the sensing enzyme genetically. We review the degradative effect of LMWM and hydrogen peroxide on the sensing enzyme glucose oxidase (GOx). In addition, we examine advances in stabilizing GOx against degradation using hybrid silica gels and genetic engineering of GOx. We conclude molecularly engineered GOx combined with silica-based encapsulation provides an avenue for designing long-term in vivo sensor systems.

Laccase–biosilica nanostructures — A miniaturized automatic approach

In the present work, an automatic generic tool for performing different syntheses of biosilica nanoparticles and the encapsulation of enzymes at the same time is described. Sequential injection analysis (SIA) allowed automation, since it enables the precise and exact control of fluidic manipulations as well as reaction conditions essential for achieving repeatable and reproducible hydrolysis, nucleation, and particle growth. An effective computer control of all the analytical parameters during run time ensured the testing of different templates, silicic acid precursors, and reaction conditions (flow rates, flow reversal, mixing, order of reagents added, pH, etc.) without physical reconfiguration of the flow setup. The effect of tetramethyl orthosilicate, sodium silicate, polyethylenimine, and protamine was evaluated not only for the morphology and size of obtained nanoparticles, but also for the stability and consequently the activity of laccase, the enzyme selected for this demonstration. This activity was evaluated using the spectrophotometric measurement (at 415 nm) of the 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) cationic radical, which results from the action of the encapsulated enzyme. The results obtained showed advantages, namely, reproducibility between all the samples used when compared with the small-scale batch-based process, and the absence of clogging due to the operational characteristics of the SIA technique. Besides the benign reaction conditions, such as ambient temperatures, physiological pH range, and aqueous solvents, this automatic procedure was shown to be a rapid, simple, and more sensitive alternative method for the enzyme immobilization that results in the physical entrapment of enzymes within silica nanospheres as they are formed.

FRET imaging of diatoms expressing a biosilica-localized ribose sensor

Future materials are envisioned to include bio-assembled, hybrid, three-dimensional nanosystems that incorporate functional proteins. Diatoms are amenable to genetic modification for localization of recombinant proteins in the biosilica cell wall. However, the full range of protein functionalities that can be accommodated by the modified porous biosilica has yet to be described. Our objective was to functionalize diatom biosilica with a reagent-less sensor dependent on ligand-binding and conformational change to drive FRET-based signaling capabilities. A fusion protein designed to confer such properties included a bacterial periplasmic ribose binding protein (R) flanked by CyPet (C) and YPet (Y), cyan and yellow fluorescent proteins that act as a FRET pair. The structure and function of the CRY recombinant chimeric protein was confirmed by expression in E. coli prior to transformation of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. Mass spectrometry of the recombinant CRY showed 97% identity with the deduced amino acid sequence. CRY with and without an N-terminal Sil3 tag for biosilica localization exhibited characteristic ribose-dependent changes in FRET, with similar dissociation constants of 123.3 µM and 142.8 µM, respectively. The addition of the Sil3 tag did not alter the affinity of CRY for the ribose substrate. Subsequent transformation of T. pseudonana with a vector encoding Sil3-CRY resulted in fluorescence localization in the biosilica and changes in FRET in both living cells and isolated frustules in response to ribose. This work demonstrated that the nano-architecture of the genetically modified biosilica cell wall was able to support the functionality of the relatively complex Sil3-CyPet-RBP-YPet fusion protein with its requirement for ligand-binding and conformational change for FRET-signal generation.

Facile construction of multicompartment multienzyme system through layer-by-layer self-assembly and biomimetic mineralization

In nature, some organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts possess multicompartment structure, which render powerful and versatile performance in cascade conversion, selective separation, and energy transfer. In this study, mitochondria-inspired hybrid double membrane microcapsules (HDMMCs) were prepared through synergy between biomimetic mineralization and layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly using double templating strategy. The organic inner membrane was acquired via LbL self-assembly of oxidized alginate (o-alginate) and protamine on the CaCO(3) template, the silica template layer was then formed onto the inner membrane through biomimetic silicification using protamine as inducer and silicate as precursor, the organic-inorganic hybrid outer membrane was acquired via biomimetic mineralization of titanium precursor. After the CaCO(3) template and the silica template are removed subsequently, multicompartment microcapsules with microscale lumen and nanoscale intermembrane space were obtained. The double membrane structure of the HDMMCs was verified by high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), and the superior mechanical stability of HDMMCs was demonstrated by osmotic pressure experiment and fluorescence microscopy. A multienzyme system was constructed by following this protocol: the first enzyme was encapsulated in the lumen of the HDMMCs, whereas the second enzyme was encapsulated in the intermembrane space. Compared to encapsulated multienzyme in single-compartment microcapsules (SCMCs) or in free form in aqueous solution, enzymatic activity, selectivity, and recycling stability of HDMMCs-enabled multienzyme system were significantly improved. Because of the inherent gentle and generic feature, the present study can be utilized to create a variety of compartment structures for the potential applications in chemical/biological catalysis and separation, drug/gene delivery systems, and biosensors.

Facile preparation of robust microcapsules by manipulating metal-coordination interaction between biomineral layer and bioadhesive layer

A novel approach combining biomimetic mineralization and bioadhesion is proposed to prepare robust and versatile organic-inorganic hybrid microcapsules. More specifically, these microcapsules are fabricated by sequential deposition of inorganic layer and organic layer on the surface of CaCO(3) microparticles, followed by the dissolution of CaCO(3) microparticles using EDTA. During the preparation process, protamine induces the hydrolysis and condensation of titania or silica precursor to form the inorganic layer or the biomineral layer. The organic layer or bioadhesive layer was formed through the rapid, spontaneous oxidative polymerization of dopamine into polydopamine (PDA) on the surface of the biomineral layer. There exist multiple interactions between the inorganic layer and the organic layer. Thus, the as-prepared organic-inorganic hybrid microcapsules acquire much higher mechanical stability and surface reactivity than pure titania or pure silica microcapsules. Furthermore, protamine/titania/polydopamine hybrid microcapsules display superior mechanical stability to protamine/silica/polydopamine hybrid microcapsules because of the formation of Ti(IV)-catechol coordination complex between the biomineral layer and the bioadhesive layer. As an example of application, three enzymes are respectively immobilized through physical encapsulation in the lumen, in situ entrapment within the wall and chemical attachment on the out surface of the hybrid microcapsules. The as-constructed multienzyme system displays higher catalytic activity and operational stability. Hopefully, the approach developed in this study will evolve as a generic platform for facile and controllable preparation of organic-inorganic hybrid materials with different compositions and shapes for a variety of applications in catalysis, sensor, drug/gene delivery.