Interactions of Chemically Synthesized Ferrihydrite Nanoparticles with Human Serum Transferrin: Insights from Fluorescence Spectroscopic Studies

Binding of flavonoids to yeast aldehyde dehydrogenase: a molecular mechanism and computational approach

The interaction of three flavonoids, apigenin, fisetin and quercetin with yeast aldehyde dehydrogenase, ALDH was studied by spectroscopic and molecular docking methods. A combination of both static and dynamic processes interaction mechanism for the binding of flavonoids with ALDH was found. The interaction takes place with moderate binding and the interaction was driven by hydrophobic contacts. The microenvironments of the fluorescent amino acids changed upon flavonoids binding. The distances between ALDH and flavonoids determined by Förster Resonant Energy Transfer (FRET) confirmed the results obtained by fluorescence. The structure of ALDH against thermal denaturation was stabilized by apigenin and destabilized by fisetin and quercetin. Molecular docking simulation showed that all flavonoids bind to the same site of ALDH and confirmed the moderate binding straight found in fluorescence.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

The interaction mechanism of plasma iron transport protein transferrin with nanoparticles

In the biological systems, exposure to nanoparticles (NPs) can cause complicated interactions with proteins, the formation of protein corona and structural changes to proteins. These changes depend not only on NP physicochemical properties, but also on the intrinsic stability of protein molecules. Although, the formation of protein corona on the surface of NPs and the underlying mechanisms have been fully explored in various studies, no comprehensive review has discussed the direct biochemical and biophysical interactions between NPs and blood proteins, particularly transferrin. In this review, we first discussed the interaction of NPs with proteins to comprehend the effects of physicochemical properties of NPs on protein structure. We then overviewed the transferrin structure and its direct interaction with NPs to explore transferrin stability and its iron ion (Fe³⁺) release behavior. Afterwards, we surveyed the various biological functions of transferrin, such as Fe³⁺ binding, receptor binding, antibacterial activity, growth, differentiation, and coagulation, followed by the application of transferrin-modified NPs in the development of drug delivery systems for cancer therapy. We believe that this study can provide useful insight into the design and development of bioconjugates containing NP-transferrin for potential biomedical applications.