1
|
Guberman-Pfeffer MJ. To be or not to be a cytochrome: electrical characterizations are inconsistent with Geobacter cytochrome 'nanowires'. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1397124. [PMID: 38633696 PMCID: PMC11021709 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1397124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Geobacter sulfurreducens profoundly shapes Earth's biogeochemistry by discharging respiratory electrons to minerals and other microbes through filaments of a two-decades-long debated identity. Cryogenic electron microscopy has revealed filaments of redox-active cytochromes, but the same filaments have exhibited hallmarks of organic metal-like conductivity under cytochrome denaturing/inhibiting conditions. Prior structure-based calculations and kinetic analyses on multi-heme proteins are synthesized herein to propose that a minimum of ~7 cytochrome 'nanowires' can carry the respiratory flux of a Geobacter cell, which is known to express somewhat more (≥20) filaments to increase the likelihood of productive contacts. By contrast, prior electrical and spectroscopic structural characterizations are argued to be physiologically irrelevant or physically implausible for the known cytochrome filaments because of experimental artifacts and sample impurities. This perspective clarifies our mechanistic understanding of physiological metal-microbe interactions and advances synthetic biology efforts to optimize those interactions for bioremediation and energy or chemical production.
Collapse
|
2
|
Jiang T, Zeng BF, Zhang B, Tang L. Single-molecular protein-based bioelectronics via electronic transport: fundamentals, devices and applications. Chem Soc Rev 2023; 52:5968-6002. [PMID: 37498342 DOI: 10.1039/d2cs00519k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/28/2023]
Abstract
Biomolecular electronics is a rapidly growing multidisciplinary field that combines biology, nanoscience, and engineering to bridge the two important fields of life sciences and molecular electronics. Proteins are remarkable for their ability to recognize molecules and transport electrons, making the integration of proteins into electronic devices a long sought-after goal and leading to the emergence of the field of protein-based bioelectronics, also known as proteotronics. This field seeks to design and create new biomolecular electronic platforms that allow for the understanding and manipulation of protein-mediated electronic charge transport and related functional applications. In recent decades, there have been numerous reports on protein-based bioelectronics using a variety of nano-gapped electrical devices and techniques at the single molecular level, which are not achievable with conventional ensemble approaches. This review focuses on recent advances in physical electron transport mechanisms, device fabrication methodologies, and various applications in protein-based bioelectronics. We discuss the most recent progress of the single or few protein-bridged electrical junction fabrication strategies, summarise the work on fundamental and functional applications of protein bioelectronics that enable high and dynamic electron transport, and highlight future perspectives and challenges that still need to be addressed. We believe that this specific review will stimulate the interdisciplinary research of topics related to protein-related bioelectronics, and open up new possibilities for single-molecule biophysics and biomedicine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tao Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
| | - Biao-Feng Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
| | - Bintian Zhang
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement and Early Warning Technology for Urban Environmental Health Risks, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
| | - Longhua Tang
- State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
- Institute of Quantum Sensing, Interdisciplinary Centre for Quantum Information, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Lei H, Cheng N, Zhao J. Interaction between membrane and organic compounds studied by atomic force microscopy with a tip modification. J Memb Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2018.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
|
4
|
Kolay J, Bera S, Rakshit T, Mukhopadhyay R. Negative Differential Resistance Behavior of the Iron Storage Protein Ferritin. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2018; 34:3126-3135. [PMID: 29412680 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b04356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Realization of useful nanometer length scale devices in which metalloproteins are junction-confined in a distinct molecular arrangement for generating practical electronic signals (e.g., in bioelectronic switch configuration) is elusive till date. This is mostly due to difficulties in observing an electronically appropriate signal (i.e., reproducible and controllable), when studied under junction-assembled condition. A useful "ON"-"OFF" behavior, based on the negative differential resistance (NDR) peak characteristics in the current-voltage response curves, acquired using metal-insulator-metal (MIM) configuration, has been observed only in the case of a few proteins, namely, azurin, cytochrome c, bacteriorhodopsin, so far. The case of NDR in ferritin, an iron storage protein having a semiconducting iron core consisting of few thousands of iron atoms connected in an oxide network, has not been studied in the MIM configuration where single (or a few) molecule(s) are junction-trapped, for example, as in the case of local probe configuration of scanning probe microscopy. The present study by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), using the naturally occurring iron-containing ferritin (human liver), as well as different iron-loaded ferritins, provides clear indication of the capability of ferritins to be NDR capable, at varying sweep conditions. As ferritin can be tailor-made in a structurally conserved manner, metal core-reconstituted ferritins, that is, Mn(III)-ferritin, Cu(II)-ferritin, and Ag-ferritin, were prepared. A correlation between the NDR peak signatures, as observed in the respective current-voltage response curves of these reconstituted ferritins, and the nature of the metal core is demonstrated. In support of our earlier proposition, here, we affirm that the ferritin protein behaves as a conductor-insulator (metal core-polypeptide shell) composite, where the overall electronic structure of the material can alter as a function of the nature of the conducting filler placed inside the insulated matrix.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- J Kolay
- Department of Biological Chemistry , Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Kolkata 700 032 , India
| | - S Bera
- Department of Biological Chemistry , Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Kolkata 700 032 , India
| | - T Rakshit
- Department of Biological Chemistry , Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Kolkata 700 032 , India
| | - R Mukhopadhyay
- Department of Biological Chemistry , Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Kolkata 700 032 , India
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Bera S, Kolay J, Banerjee S, Mukhopadhyay R. Nanoscale On-Silico Electron Transport via Ferritins. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2017; 33:1951-1958. [PMID: 28145712 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b04120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Silicon is a solid-state semiconducting material that has long been recognized as a technologically useful one, especially in electronics industry. However, its application in the next-generation metalloprotein-based electronics approaches has been limited. In this work, the applicability of silicon as a solid support for anchoring the iron-storage protein ferritin, which has a semiconducting iron nanocore, and probing electron transport via the ferritin molecules trapped between silicon substrate and a conductive scanning probe has been investigated. Ferritin protein is an attractive bioelectronic material because its size (X-ray crystallographic diameter ∼12 nm) should allow it to fit well in the larger tunnel gaps (>5 nm), fabrication of which is relatively more established, than the smaller ones. The electron transport events occurring through the ferritin molecules that are covalently anchored onto the MPTMS-modified silicon surface could be detected at the molecular level by current-sensing atomic force spectroscopy (CSAFS). Importantly, the distinct electronic signatures of the metal types (i.e., Fe, Mn, Ni, and Au) within the ferritin nanocore could be distinguished from each other using the transport band gap analyses. The CSAFS measurements on holoferritin, apoferritin, and the metal core reconstituted ferritins reveal that some of these ferritins behave like n-type semiconductors, while the others behave as p-type semiconductors. The band gaps for the different ferritins are found to be within 0.8 to 2.6 eV, a range that is valid for the standard semiconductor technology (e.g., diodes based on p-n junction). The present work indicates effective on-silico integration of the ferritin protein, as it remains functionally viable after silicon binding and its electron transport activities can be detected. Potential use of the ferritin-silicon nanohybrids may therefore be envisaged in applications other than bioelectronics, too, as ferritin is a versatile nanocore-containing biomaterial (for storage/transport of metals and drugs) and silicon can be a versatile nanoscale solid support (for its biocompatible nature).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sudipta Bera
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, India
| | - Jayeeta Kolay
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, India
| | - Siddhartha Banerjee
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, India
| | - Rupa Mukhopadhyay
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science , Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, India
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Baldacchini C, Bizzarri AR, Cannistraro S. Electron transfer, conduction and biorecognition properties of the redox metalloprotein Azurin assembled onto inorganic substrates. Eur Polym J 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2016.04.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
|
7
|
Artés JM, López-Martínez M, Díez-Pérez I, Sanz F, Gorostiza P. Nanoscale charge transfer in redox proteins and DNA: Towards biomolecular electronics. Electrochim Acta 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.05.089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
|
8
|
Hao X, Zhang J, Christensen HEM, Wang H, Ulstrup J. Electrochemical Single-Molecule AFM of the Redox Metalloenzyme Copper Nitrite Reductase in Action. Chemphyschem 2012; 13:2919-24. [DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201200220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
|
9
|
Artés JM, Díez-Pérez I, Gorostiza P. Transistor-like behavior of single metalloprotein junctions. NANO LETTERS 2012; 12:2679-2684. [PMID: 21973084 DOI: 10.1021/nl2028969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Single protein junctions consisting of azurin bridged between a gold substrate and the probe of an electrochemical tunneling microscope (ECSTM) have been obtained by two independent methods that allowed statistical analysis over a large number of measured junctions. Conductance measurements yield (7.3 ± 1.5) × 10(-6)G(0) in agreement with reported estimates using other techniques. Redox gating of the protein with an on/off ratio of 20 was demonstrated and constitutes a proof-of-principle of a single redox protein field-effect transistor.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Juan M Artés
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Baldiri Reixac 15-21, Barcelona 08028 Spain
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
|
11
|
Mentovich ED, Belgorodsky B, Richter S. Resolving the Mystery of the Elusive Peak: Negative Differential Resistance in Redox Proteins. J Phys Chem Lett 2011; 2:1125-1128. [PMID: 26295313 DOI: 10.1021/jz200304s] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Vertical molecular transistors are used to explain the nonconformal electron transfer results obtained for redox proteins. The transport characteristics of a negative differential resistance peak as appears in the transport data of azurin and its nonredox derivative are explored. A correlation between the peak and its redox center is demonstrated.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elad D Mentovich
- †School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
- ‡University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Bogdan Belgorodsky
- †School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Shachar Richter
- †School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
- ‡University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Patil AV, Davis JJ. Visualizing and Tuning Thermodynamic Dispersion in Metalloprotein Monolayers. J Am Chem Soc 2010; 132:16938-44. [DOI: 10.1021/ja1065448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Amol Virendra Patil
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, United Kingdom
| | - Jason John Davis
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Davis JJ, Peters B, Xi W. Force modulation and electrochemical gating of conductance in a cytochrome. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONDENSED MATTER : AN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS JOURNAL 2008; 20:374123. [PMID: 21694430 DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/20/37/374123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Scanning probe methods have been used to measure the effect of electrochemical potential and applied force on the tunnelling conductance of the redox metalloprotein yeast iso-1-cytochrome c (YCC) at a molecular level. The interaction of a proximal probe with any sample under test will, at this scale, be inherently perturbative. This is demonstrated with conductive probe atomic force microscopy (CP-AFM) current-voltage spectroscopy in which YCC, chemically adsorbed onto pristine Au(111) via its surface cysteine residue, is observed to become increasingly compressed as applied load is increased, with concomitant decrease in junction resistance. Electrical contact at minimal perturbation, where probe-molecule coupling is comparable to that in scanning tunnelling microscopy, brings with it the observation of negative differential resistance, assigned to redox-assisted probe-substrate tunnelling. The role of the redox centre in conductance is also resolved in electrochemical scanning tunnelling microscopy assays where molecular conductance is electrochemically gateable through more than an order of magnitude.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jason J Davis
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
14
|
Zhang J, Kuznetsov AM, Medvedev IG, Chi Q, Albrecht T, Jensen PS, Ulstrup J. Single-Molecule Electron Transfer in Electrochemical Environments. Chem Rev 2008; 108:2737-91. [PMID: 18620372 DOI: 10.1021/cr068073+] [Citation(s) in RCA: 252] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|