The structure and function of ribonuclease A upon interacting with carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an important genetic material whose lifetime is most oftendetermined by the rate of its enzymatic degradation. Our studies showed that multi-walledcarbon nanotubes and single-walled carbon nanotubes functionalized with carboxylicgroups interacted with ribonuclease A (RNase A) and caused the reduction of its activityby changing its conformation, thus protecting RNA from enzymatic cleavage. The resultsshowed that RNase A was less active on the carbon nanotube surface than in free solution,and the activity was decreased further on larger carbon nanotubes, suggesting that carbonnanotubes with various surface modifications may be useful in RNA extraction,purification, and manipulation.