Linker Effects on Monolayer Formation and Long-Range Electron Transfer in Helical Peptide Monolayers

Unravelling Structural Dynamics within a Photoswitchable Single Peptide: A Step Towards Multimodal Bioinspired Nanodevices

The majority of the protein structures have been elucidated under equilibrium conditions. The aim herein is to provide a better understanding of the dynamic behavior inherent to proteins by fabricating a label-free nanodevice comprising a single-peptide junction to measure real-time conductance, from which their structural dynamic behavior can be inferred. This device contains an azobenzene photoswitch for interconversion between a well-defined cis, and disordered trans isomer. Real-time conductance measurements revealed three distinct states for each isomer, with molecular dynamics simulations showing each state corresponds to a specific range of hydrogen bond lengths within the cis isomer, and specific dihedral angles in the trans isomer. These insights into the structural dynamic behavior of peptides may rationally extend to proteins. Also demonstrated is the capacity to modulate conductance which advances the design and development of bioinspired electronic nanodevices.

Building Supramolecular DNA-Inspired Nanowires on Gold Surfaces: From 2D to 3D

Three building blocks have been designed to chemically link to a gold surface and vertically self-assemble through thymine-adenine hydrogen bonds. Starting from these building blocks, two different films were engineered on gold surface. Film 1 consists of adenine linked to lipoic acid (Lipo-A) to covalently bind to the gold surface, and ZnTPP linked to a thymine (T-ZnTPP). Film 2 has an additional noncovalently linked layer: a helical undecapeptide analogue of the trichogin GA IV peptide, in which four glycines were replaced by four lysines to favor a helical conformation and reduce flexibility and the two extremities were functionalized with thymine and adenine to enable Lipo-A and T-ZnTPP binding, respectively. These films were characterized by electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques, and were very stable over time and when in contact with solution. Under illumination, they could generate current with higher efficiency than similar previously described systems.

Microbial nanowires - Electron transport and the role of synthetic analogues

Electron transfer is central to cellular life, from photosynthesis to respiration. In the case of anaerobic respiration, some microbes have extracellular appendages that can be utilised to transport electrons over great distances. Two model organisms heavily studied in this arena are Shewanella oneidensis and Geobacter sulfurreducens. There is some debate over how, in particular, the Geobacter sulfurreducens nanowires (formed from pilin nanofilaments) are capable of achieving the impressive feats of natural conductivity that they display. In this article, we outline the mechanisms of electron transfer through delocalised electron transport, quantum tunnelling, and hopping as they pertain to biomaterials. These are described along with existing examples of the different types of conductivity observed in natural systems such as DNA and proteins in order to provide context for understanding the complexities involved in studying the electron transport properties of these unique nanowires. We then introduce some synthetic analogues, made using peptides, which may assist in resolving this debate. Microbial nanowires and the synthetic analogues thereof are of particular interest, not just for biogeochemistry, but also for the exciting potential bioelectronic and clinical applications as covered in the final section of the review.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Some microbes have extracellular appendages that transport electrons over vast distances in order to respire, such as the dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria Geobacter sulfurreducens. There is significant debate over how G. sulfurreducens nanowires are capable of achieving the impressive feats of natural conductivity that they display: This mechanism is a fundamental scientific challenge, with important environmental and technological implications. Through outlining the techniques and outcomes of investigations into the mechanisms of such protein-based nanofibrils, we provide a platform for the general study of the electronic properties of biomaterials. The implications are broad-reaching, with fundamental investigations into electron transfer processes in natural and biomimetic materials underway. From these studies, applications in the medical, energy, and IT industries can be developed utilising bioelectronics.

Peptide-based biosensors: From self-assembled interfaces to molecular probes in electrochemical assays

Redox-tagged peptides have emerged as functional materials with multiple applications in the area of sensing and biosensing applications due to their high stability, excellent redox properties and versatility of biomolecular interactions. They allow direct observation of molecular interactions in a wide range of affinity and enzymatic assays and act as electron mediators. Short helical peptides possess the ability to self-assemble in specific configurations with the possibility to develop in highly-ordered, stable 1D, 2D and 3D architectures in a hierarchical controlled manner. We provide here a brief overview of the electrochemical techniques available to study the electron transfer in peptide films with particular interest in developing biosensors with immobilized peptide motifs, for biological and clinical applications.

Peptides as Bio-inspired Molecular Electronic Materials

Understanding the electronic properties of single peptides is not only of fundamental importance to biology, but it is also pivotal to the realization of bio-inspired molecular electronic materials. Natural proteins have evolved to promote electron transfer in many crucial biological processes. However, their complex conformational nature inhibits a thorough investigation, so in order to study electron transfer in proteins, simple peptide models containing redox active moieties present as ideal candidates. Here we highlight the importance of secondary structure characteristic to proteins/peptides, and its relevance to electron transfer. The proposed mechanisms responsible for such transfer are discussed, as are details of the electrochemical techniques used to investigate their electronic properties. Several factors that have been shown to influence electron transfer in peptides are also considered. Finally, a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study demonstrates that the electron transfer kinetics of peptides can be successfully fine tuned through manipulation of chemical composition and backbone rigidity. The methods used to characterize the conformation of all peptides synthesized throughout the study are outlined, along with the various approaches used to further constrain the peptides into their geometric conformations. The aforementioned sheds light on the potential of peptides to one day play an important role in the fledgling field of molecular electronics.

Electronic characterization of Geobacter sulfurreducens pilins in self-assembled monolayers unmasks tunnelling and hopping conduction pathways

The peptide subunit of Geobacter nanowires (pili) metal-reducing bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens was self-assembled as a conductive monolayer. Its electronic characterized revealed tunneling and hopping regimes.

Peptide flatlandia: a new-concept peptide for positioning of electroactive probes in proximity to a metal surface

A helical hexapeptide was designed to link in a rigid parallel orientation to a gold surface. The peptide sequence of the newly synthesized compound is characterized by the presence of two 4-amino-1,2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic acid (Adt) residues (positions 1 and 4) to promote a bidentate interaction with the gold surface, two L-Ala residues (positions 2 and 5) and two-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) residues (positions 3 and 6) to favor a high population of the 310-helix conformation. Furthermore, a ferrocenoyl (Fc) probe was inserted at the N-terminus to investigate the electronic conduction properties of the peptide. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy techniques were used to characterize the binding of the peptide to the gold surface and the morphology of the peptide layer, respectively. Several electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, square wave voltammetry) techniques were applied to analyze the electrochemical activity of the Fc probe, along with the influence of the peptide 3D-structure and the peptide layer morphology on electron transfer processes.

Rapid Electron Transport Phenomenon in the Bis(terpyridine) Metal Complex Wire: Marcus Theory and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Study

The authors reported previously that bis(terpyiridne)iron(II) complex oligomer wires possess outstanding long-range intrawire electron transport ability. Here, molecular arrays of gold-electrode-bis(terpyridine)iron(II)-ferrocene are constructed by stepwise coordination as simple models of the oligomer wire system. The fast electron transfer between the terminal ferrocene and the gold electrode through the bis(terpyiridne)iron(II) complex unit is studied by potential step chronoamperometry (PSCA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Tafel plots derived from PSCA are analyzed based on Marcus theory. The plots reveal greater first-order electron transfer rate constant, weaker electronic coupling between the terminal ferrocene and the gold electrode, and smaller reorganization energy than shown by a conventional ferrocenylalkanethiol self-assembled monolayer. The electron transfer rate constants estimated by EIS agree with the PSCA results.

Electrostatic nucleic acid nanoassembly enables hybridization chain reaction in living cells for ultrasensitive mRNA imaging

Efficient approaches for intracellular delivery of nucleic acid reagents to achieve sensitive detection and regulation of gene and protein expressions are essential for chemistry and biology. We develop a novel electrostatic DNA nanoassembly that, for the first time, realizes hybridization chain reaction (HCR), a target-initiated alternating hybridization reaction between two hairpin probes, for signal amplification in living cells. The DNA nanoassembly has a designed structure with a core gold nanoparticle, a cationic peptide interlayer, and an electrostatically assembled outer layer of fluorophore-labeled hairpin DNA probes. It is shown to have high efficiency for cellular delivery of DNA probes via a unique endocytosis-independent mechanism that confers a significant advantage of overcoming endosomal entrapment. Moreover, electrostatic assembly of DNA probes enables target-initialized release of the probes from the nanoassembly via HCR. This intracellular HCR offers efficient signal amplification and enables ultrasensitive fluorescence activation imaging of mRNA expression with a picomolar detection limit. The results imply that the developed nanoassembly may provide an invaluable platform in low-abundance biomarker discovery and regulation for cell biology and theranostics.

A dielectric model of self-assembled monolayer interfaces by capacitive spectroscopy

The presence of self-assembled monolayers at an electrode introduces capacitance and resistance contributions that can profoundly affect subsequently observed electronic characteristics. Despite the impact of this on any voltammetry, these contributions are not directly resolvable with any clarity by standard electrochemical means. A capacitive analysis of such interfaces (by capacitance spectroscopy), introduced here, enables a clean mapping of these features and additionally presents a means of studying layer polarizability and Cole-Cole relaxation effects. The resolved resistive term contributes directly to an intrinsic monolayer uncompensated resistance that has a linear dependence on the layer thickness. The dielectric model proposed is fully aligned with the classic Helmholtz plate capacitor model and additionally explains the inherently associated resistive features of molecular films.

Formation process and solvent-dependent structure of a polyproline self-assembled monolayer on a gold surface

The formation process and structure of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of lipoic-acid-terminated polyproline on a gold surface in aqueous solution were investigated by several techniques. The amount of polyproline molecules on the gold surface was determined from the area of the reductive desorption peak, and orientation and thickness of the polyproline SAM were determined in situ by attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy and ellipsometry. The kinetics of the polyproline SAM formation process were discussed on the basis of these results. The in situ IR study confirmed that the conformation of the polyproline SAM was changed by changing the solvent from water to methanol and methanol to water, as is the case for polyproline dissolved in solution.

Charge mapping in 3(10)-helical peptide chains by oxidation of the terminal ferrocenyl group

Two series of 3(10)-helical peptides of different lengths and rigidity, based on the strongly foldameric α-aminoisobutyric acid and containing a terminal ferrocenyl unit, have been synthesized. Oxidation-state sensitive spectroscopic tags of helical peptides, the N-H groups, allowed mapping of the charge delocalization triggered by oxidation of the terminal ferrocenyl moiety and were monitored by IR spectroelectrochemistry.

Ultra-long-range electron transfer through a self-assembled monolayer on gold composed of 120-Å-long α-helices

Electron transfer through α-helices has attracted much attention from the viewpoints of their contributions to efficient long-range electron transfer occurring in biological systems and their utility as molecular-electronics elements. In this study, we synthesized a long 80mer helical peptide carrying a redox-active ferrocene unit at the terminal and immobilized the helical peptide on a gold surface. The molecular length is calculated to be 134 Å, in which the helix accounts for 120 Å. The preparation conditions of the self-assembled monolayers were intentionally changed to obtain monolayers with different physical states to study the correlation between molecular motions and electron transfer. Ellipsometry and infrared spectroscopy showed that the helical peptide forms a self-assembled monolayer with vertical orientation. Electrochemical measurements revealed that an electron is transferred from the ferrocene unit to gold through the monolayer composed of this long helical peptide, and the experimental data are well explained by theoretical results calculated under the assumption that electron transfer occurs by a unique hopping mechanism with the amide groups as hopping sites. Furthermore, we have observed a unique dependence of electron transfer on the monolayer packing, suggesting the importance of structural fluctuations of peptides on the electron transfer controlled by the hopping mechanism.

Immobilization of porphyrin derivatives with a defined distance and orientation onto a gold electrode using synthetic light-harvesting α-helix hydrophobic polypeptides

Molecular assembly of Zn-porphyrin pigments on a gold electrode using synthetic 1α-helix hydrophobic polypeptides which have similar amino acid sequences to the hydrophobic core in the native photosynthetic light-harvesting (LH) 1-β polypeptide from Rhodobacter sphaeroides has been achieved. This method is clearly successful in allowing assembly of porphyrins together with LH1 type functional complexes with a defined distance and orientation on the electrode. In this case, the photocurrent direction and the distance of electron transfer of pigments could be controlled by these synthetic LH1 model polypeptides. This method will be useful for the self-assembly of these pigment and protein complexes in order to study the energy transfer and electron transfer reactions between individual pigments in the supramolecular complexes on the electrode, as well as to provide insight into the effect of the distance and orientation of pigments and the effect of the structure of 1α-helix hydrophobic polypeptide on the energy transfer and electron transfer reactions.

Electrochemistry of redox-active self-assembled monolayers

Redox-active self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) provide an excellent platform for investigating electron transfer kinetics. Using a well-defined bridge, a redox center can be positioned at a fixed distance from the electrode and electron transfer kinetics probed using a variety of electrochemical techniques. Cyclic voltammetry, AC voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and chronoamperometry are most commonly used to determine the rate of electron transfer of redox-activated SAMs. A variety of redox species have been attached to SAMs, and include transition metal complexes (e.g., ferrocene, ruthenium pentaammine, osmium bisbipyridine, metal clusters) and organic molecules (e.g., galvinol, C(60)). SAMs offer an ideal environment to study the outer-sphere interactions of redox species. The composition and integrity of the monolayer and the electrode material influence the electron transfer kinetics and can be investigated using electrochemical methods. Theoretical models have been developed for investigating SAM structure. This review discusses methods and monolayer compositions for electrochemical measurements of redox-active SAMs.

Exploring the surface charge on peptide-gold nanoparticle conjugates by force spectroscopy

The conformation and charge exposure of peptides attached to colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are critical for both the colloidal stability and for the recognition of biological targets in biomedical applications such as diagnostics and therapy. We prepared conjugates of AuNPs and three isomer peptides capable of recognizing toxic aggregates of the amyloid beta protein (Abeta) involved in Alzheimer's disease, namely, CLPFFD-CONH(2) (i0), CDLPFF-CONH(2) (i1), and CLPDFF-CONH(2) (i2), where D is the amino acid aspartic acid that is negatively charged at pH = 7.4. We then studied the effect of peptide sequence on the charge exposure through force spectroscopy measurements. The peptide-AuNPs conjugates were fixed on glass surfaces, and their interactions with peptide-functionalized tips were determined. Our results show a higher density of surface charge in the conjugates of the isomers i0 and i2 and a lower density in i1, which is due to the higher degree of functionalization in the first two compared with the third. However, the charge per molecule of the peptide is higher for i1 with respect to i0 and i2, which could be related to the local conformation that the peptides adopt on the surface. The acid-base behavior of the peptide anchored to the AuNPs is different than expected in aqueous solutions of free peptides, which could be related to the low accessibility of the NH(2)-terminal group belonging to the cysteine that is located near the AuNPs surface. In contrast with other techniques, the fixation of the peptide-AuNPs conjugates to a surface allows for characterization of the local charge exposure of peptides anchored to AuNPs over a wide range of pH.