Identification of Chiral-Specific Carbon Nanotube Binding Peptides Using a Modified Biopanning Method

Rachel Krabacher,Joseph Slocik,Steve Kim,Yen Ngo,Christina Harsch,Rajesh Naik

doi:10.3390/chemosensors9090245

Rachel Krabacher, Joseph Slocik + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors9090245

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Abstract

Peptides can recognize and selectively bind to a wide variety of materials dependent on both their surface properties and the environment. Biopanning with phage or cell peptide display libraries can identify material-specific binding peptides. However, the limitations with sequence diversity of traditional bacteriophage (phage) display libraries and loss of unique phage clones during the amplification cycles results in a smaller pool of peptide sequences identified. False positive sequences tend to emerge during the biopanning process due to highly proliferating, yet nonspecific, phages. In order to overcome this limitation of traditional biopanning methodology, a modified method using high-throughput next generation sequencing (HTS) was tested to select for unique peptides specific to two types of single wall carbon nanotube (SWNTs) sources with varying diameter distribution and chirality. Here, the process, analysis, and characterization of peptide sequences identified using the modified method is further described and compared to a peptide identified in literature using the traditional method. Selected sequences from this study were incorporated in a SWNT dispersion experiment to probe their selectivity to the nanotube diameter. We show that NHTS can uncover unique binding sequences that might have otherwise been lost during the traditional biopanning method.

Highlights

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have extraordinary electronic properties that make them a desirable material to use in various high performance electronic, optical, and optoelectronic sensing platforms
Two commercial SWNTs were chosen for screening against the phage library
Traditional and high-throughput next generation sequencing (HTS)–Phage display (PD) methods were investigated and compared to a newly identified NHTS–PD method. This NHTS–PD method successfully identified and removed parasitic sequences, which amplified at very high rates yet were not binding, and were clouding the sequencing data

Summary

Introduction

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have extraordinary electronic properties that make them a desirable material to use in various high performance electronic, optical, and optoelectronic sensing platforms. The orientation in which the SWNTs are rolled determines the (n, m) chirality, which enables unique physiochemical and electrical diversity including being metallic or semiconducting [1,2,3,4]. Due to their nanometer (nm) scale diameter and high aspect ratio, SWNTs offer a high degree of chemical and biochemical functionalization allowing them to provide an optimal platform for sensor applications [5]. Functionalization of SWNTs with biorecognition elements for sensor applications requires the elements to be specific and selective towards the analyte of choice

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