Potential Applications In Nanobiotechnology Research Articles

Synthesis of Photoluminescent 2D Self-Assembled Silver Thiolate Nanoclusters for Sensors and Biomolecule Support.

Silver thiolate nanoclusters (Ag NCs) show distinctive optical properties resulting from their hybrid nature, metallic and molecular, exhibiting size-, structure-, and surface-dependent photoluminescence, thus enabling the exploitation of Ag NCs for potential applications in nanobiotechnology, catalysis, and biomedicine. However, tailoring Ag NCs for specific applications requires achieving long-term stability and may involve modifying surface chemistry, fine-tuning ligand composition, or adding functional groups. In this study, we report the synthesis of novel Ag NCs using 2-ethanephenylthiolate (SR) as a ligand, highlight critical points addressing stability, and characterize their optical and structural properties. A preliminary electrical characterization revealed high anisotropy, well suited for potential use in electronics/sensing applications. We also present the synthesis and characterization of Ag NCs using 10-carboxylic 2-ol thiolate (SR'COOH) having a terminal carboxylic group for conjugation with amine-containing molecules. We present a preliminary assessment of its bioconjugation capability using bovine serum albumin as a model protein indicating its prospective application as a biomolecule support.

Structural and optical properties of C70 fullerenes in aqueous solution

The simple method of preparation of highly stable and purified C70 fullerene aqueous solution (C70FAS) is proposed. The features of structural stabilization of C70 fullerenes in an aqueous solution by studying their structural and optical properties using Raman, photoluminescence, infrared reflection-absorption, UV–VIS absorption, and dynamic light scattering spectroscopy methods were analyzed. The experimental results showed that the most likely mechanism for C70 fullerenes stabilization in water is surface hydroxylation with covalent attachment of water hydroxyls to C70 fullerene carbons. Raman and infrared absorption spectra of C70FAS showed characteristic vibrational bands of C70 fullerenes with a slight broadening and low-frequency shift of ∼1 cm−1, indicating the attachment of water hydroxyls to the C70 fullerene carbons. The photoluminescence spectra showed excitonic emission bands of C70 molecules with intensity depending on their content. UV–VIS absorption spectra demonstrate the absorption bands typical for monomeric C70 fullerene. Finally, the dynamic light scattering data confirmed that C70FAS is a typical colloidal fluid containing both individual C70 molecules and their nano aggregates up to 100 nm. These findings provide insights into the stabilization mechanism of C70 fullerenes in water and may have implications for their potential application in nanobiotechnology.

Single-Molecule Sizing through Nanocavity Confinement.

An approach relying on nanocavity confinement is developed in this paper for the sizing of nanoscale particles and single biomolecules in solution. The approach, termed nanocavity diffusional sizing (NDS), measures particle residence times within nanofluidic cavities to determine their hydrodynamic radii. Using theoretical modeling and simulations, we show that the residence time of particles within nanocavities above a critical time scale depends on the diffusion coefficient of the particle, which allows the estimation of the particle's size. We demonstrate this approach experimentally through the measurement of particle residence times within nanofluidic cavities using single-molecule confocal microscopy. Our data show that the residence times scale linearly with the sizes of nanoscale colloids, protein aggregates, and single DNA oligonucleotides. NDS thus constitutes a new single molecule optofluidic approach that allows rapid and quantitative sizing of nanoscale particles for potential applications in nanobiotechnology, biophysics, and clinical diagnostics.

Visualization of G-Quadruplexes, i-Motifs and Their Associates.

The non-canonical structures formed by G- or C-rich DNA regions, such as quadruplexes and i-motifs, as well as their associates, have recently been attracting increasing attention both because of the arguments in favor of their existence in vivo and their potential application in nanobiotechnology. When studying the structure and properties of non-canonical forms of DNA, as well as when controlling the artificially created architectures based on them, visualization plays an important role. This review analyzes the methods used to visualize quadruplexes, i-motifs, and their associates with high spatial resolution: fluorescence microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The key approaches to preparing specimens for the visualization of this type of structures are presented. Examples of visualization of non-canonical DNA structures having various morphologies, such as G-wires, G-loops, as well as individual quadruplexes, i-motifs and their associates, are considered. The potential for using AFM for visualizing non-canonical DNA structures is demonstrated.

Narcissistic Self-Sorting of Amphiphilic Collagen-Inspired Peptides in Supramolecular Vesicular Assembly.

Herein, we describe the hierarchical self-assembly accompanying self-sorting of collagen-inspired peptides (CPs). The two amphiphilic CPs used in this study contained an azobenzene (Az) moiety at the N-terminal, connected through a flexible spacer, but with different lengths of the (Gly-Pro-Hyp)n triplet (n = 5 and 7). When the CP aqueous solution (60 °C) was cooled to 4 °C, both CPs formed a triple helix structure and the pre-organized helices subsequently self-assembled into highly ordered vesicles with a diameter of 50-200 nm. Interestingly, narcissistic self-sorting was observed in both triple helix- and matured vesicle-formation processes, when the two CPs were mixed. Owing to the difference in the propensity for triple helix formation with temperature, the two CPs discriminate each other in response to a temperature change and form two kinds of triple helix foldamers, each containing a single component. The resulting differences in the amphiphilic balance and molecular length between the foldamers appear to allow individual self-sorting to form distinct vesicles. Furthermore, such vesicular assemblies were found to disassemble upon UV irradiation via trans-cis isomerization of the Az-groups. These findings offer important insights into the design of new complex but ordered, peptide self-assembly systems with potential applications in nanobiotechnology.

Synthesis and characterization of gold nanoparticles from marine Micrococcus sp. OUS9.

Studies on biological synthesis techniques of nanoparticles have been significantly expanded in recent years. This reduced adverse effects of chemical processing techniques. We describe the synthesis and characterization of gold nanoparticles from marine Micrococcus sp. OUS9 for potential application in nanobiotechnology.

Adsorption analysis and mechanical characteristics of carbon nanotubes under physisorption of biological molecules in an aqueous environment using molecular dynamics simulations

ABSTRACTThe functionalisation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with biomolecules in an aqueous environment has found considerable potential applications in nanobiotechnology. To understand the structural properties under physical adsorption and mechanical characteristics of non-covalently functionalised CNTs with four important biomolecules in aqueous environment, i.e. l-alanine, guanine, thymine and uracil, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed. It is demonstrated that, unlike l-alanine, the main factor of adsorption is Π-Π stacking together with van der Waals (vdW) interactions. Computation of gyration radius reveals that gyration radius increases linearly as the weight percentage of functional biomolecules increases. Also, it is shown that the presence of water molecules leads to more expansion of biomolecules around CNTs. Simulations show that Young’s modulus of the adsorbed CNTs is slightly smaller than that of pure ones. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the critical buckling force of functionalised CNT is higher than that of pure CNT. Also, for high aspect ratios, the critical strain of functionalised CNTs is found to be lower than that of pure ones and changes linearly by increasing the weight percentage of functional biomolecules. The buckling modes of functionalised CNTs in vacuum and aqueous environments are explored.

Surface Functionalization of Reconstructed Si(111) with Methionine

Understanding the fundamental interactions between biological and inorganic systems enables better control of the molecular adsorption and nanofilm growth processes, allowing the manipulation of interfacial phenomena for potential applications in nanobiotechnology and biomedical sciences. Here, we provide the first study of coverage-dependent adsorption behavior of l-methionine molecules on the Si(111)7×7 surface by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and large-scale ab initio density functional theory (DFT)-D2 calculations (that include van der Waals corrections), particularly to follow the evolution of the adsorption structures and growth mechanisms as a function of coverage. Our DFT-D2 calculations show that the most stable adsorption configuration involves a dehydrogenated methionine adspecies N-bonded on Si with its S atom undertaking long-range interaction with Si at the early growth stage. XPS analysis further reveals a three-stage growth process, from a chemisorbed interfacial layer (first stage) to a transitional layer (second stage) and finally to a zwitterionic multilayer film (third stage), upon increasing methionine exposure. In the interfacial layer, a single prominent N 1s feature corresponding to the formation of a Si–N covalent-bonded structure involving a dehydrogenated amino group is observed. At a higher coverage, the presence of two N 1s peaks corresponding to N···H–O hydrogen bonding and protonated amino (−NH3+) group supports the formation of a transitional layer and a zwitterionic layer. In contrast to cysteine, which has been observed to unidentately attach through either the dehydrogenated amino or thiol group, methionine [obtained by replacing a thiol (−SH) group in cysteine with a terminal methylthio methylene (−CH2SCH3) group] is found to exhibit remarkably different bonding interaction involving S dative bond. The discernibly longer molecular backbone in methionine also leads to unique bonding features that significantly affect the details of the nanofilm growth.

On the vibrational characteristics of single- and double-walled carbon nanotubes containing ice nanotube in aqueous environment

The properties and behavior of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in aqueous environment due to their considerable potential applications in nanobiotechnology and designing nanobiosensors have attracted the attention of researchers. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to investigate the vibrational characteristics of single- and double-walled CNTs containing ice nanotubes (a new phase of ice) in vacuum and aqueous environments. The results demonstrate that formation of ice nanotubes inside the CNTs reduces the natural frequency of pure CNTs. Moreover, it is demonstrated that increasing the number of walls considerably reduces the sensitivity of frequency to the presence of ice nanotube inside CNT. Additionally, it is shown that increasing the length decreases the effect of ice nanotube on reducing the frequency. The calculation of natural frequency of CNTs in aqueous media demonstrates that the interaction of CNTs with water molecules considerably reduces the natural frequency up to 50 %. Finally, it is demonstrated that in the case of CNTs with one free end in aqueous environment, the CNT does not vibrate in its first mode, and its frequency is between the frequencies of first and second modes of vibration.

ChemInform Abstract: Molecular Design and Applications of Self‐Assembling Surfactant‐Like Peptides

AbstractReview: 66 refs.

Anti-metastatic activity of biologically synthesized gold nanoparticles on human fibrosarcoma cell line HT-1080

Plants are exploited as a potential source for the large-scale production of noble gold nanoparticles in the recent years owing to their various potential applications in nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine. The present work describes green biosynthetic procedures for the production of gold nanoparticles for the first time by using an aqueous extract of the Dysosma pleiantha rhizome. The biosynthesized gold nanoparticles were confirmed and characterized by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results revealed that aqueous extract of D. pleiantha rhizome has potential to reduce chloroauric ions into gold nanoparticles and the synthesized gold nanoparticles were showed spherical in shape with an average of 127nm. Further, we investigated the anti-metastatic activity of biosynthesized gold nanoparticles against human fibrosarcoma cancer cell line HT-1080. The results showed that the biosynthesized gold nanoparticles were non-toxic to cell proliferation and, also it can inhibit the chemo-attractant cell migration of human fibrosarcoma cancer cell line HT-1080 by interfering the actin polymerization pathway. Thus, the usage of gold nanoparticles biosynthesized from D. pleiantha rhizome can be used as a potential candidate in the drug and gene delivery to metastatic cancer.

Dipeptide derived from benzylcystine forms unbranched nanotubes in aqueous solution

The essence of modern nanotechnology is manifested in the formation of well-ordered nanostructures by a process of self-association. Peptides are among the most useful building blocks for organic bionanostructures such as nanotubes, nanospheres, nanotapes, nanofibrils, and other different ordered structures at the nanoscale. Peptides are biocompatible, chemically diverse, and much more stable and can be readily synthesized on a large scale. Also, they have diverse application in biosensors, tissue engineering, drug delivery, etc. Here, we report a short cystine-based dipeptide, which spontaneously self-associates to form straight, unbranched nanotubes. Such self-assembled nanobiomaterials provide a novel possibility of designing new functional biomaterials with potential applications in nanobiotechnology. The formation of nanotubes in solution state has been demonstrated by atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Infrared absorption and circular dichroism demonstrated the intermolecular β-sheet-like backbone hydrogen bonding in juxtaposing and stacking of aromatic side chains.

Molecular Design and Applications of Self‐Assembling Surfactant‐Like Peptides

Self‐assembling surfactant‐like peptides have been explored as emerging nanobiomaterials in recent years. These peptides are usually amphiphilic, typically possessing a hydrophobic moiety and a hydrophilic moiety. The structural characteristics can promote many peptide molecules to self‐assemble into various nanostructures. Furthermore, properties of peptide molecules such as charge distribution and geometrical shape could also alter the formation of the self‐assembling nanostructures. Based on their diverse self‐assembling behaviours and nanostructures, self‐assembling surfactant‐like peptides exhibit great potentials in many fields, including membrane protein stabilization, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. This review mainly focuses on recent advances in studying self‐assembling surfactant‐like peptides, introducing their designs and the potential applications in nanobiotechnology.

Synthesis and characterization of membrane stable bis(arylimino)isoindole dyes and their potential application in nano-biotechnology

A synthetic methodology of preparing novel membrane stable, responsive dyes is revealed in this manuscript. 1,3-Bis(arylimino)isoindole dyes were synthesized and their properties to undergo intramolecular hydrogen bonding was studied with fluorescence spectroscopy in varying solvent polarities. Based on the functional moieties, compound that is capable of hydrogen donor and acceptor interactions produces predominant photoexcitation in comparison to the responsive dyes that lack these functionalities. These dyes, by the virtue of the presence of long chain acyl groups could be incorporated stably within the phospholipids membrane of core-shell nanoparticles. Nanoparticle was ‘cracked’ to release the dye from a hydrophobic to a hydrophilic environment. A significant change in florescence intensity was then observed, indicating the direct change in effect of intramolecular hydrogen bonding based on solvent polarity changes. This unique study provided implications of many further applications toward nanomedicine and nano-biotechnology.

Three reversible and controllable discrete steps of channel gating of a viral DNA packaging motor

The channel of the viral DNA packaging motor allows dsDNA to enter the protein procapsid shell during maturation and to exit during infection. We recently showed that the bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor exercises a one-way traffic property using a channel as a valve for dsDNA translocation. This raises a question of how dsDNA is ejected during infection if the channel only allows the dsDNA to travel inward. We proposed that DNA forward or reverse travel is controlled by conformational changes of the channel. Here we reported our direct observation that the channel indeed exercises conformational changes by single channel recording at a single-molecule level. The changes were induced by high electrical voltage, or by affinity binding to the C-terminal wider end located within the capsid. Novel enough, the conformational change of the purified connector channel exhibited three discrete gating steps, with a size reduction of 32% for each step. We investigated the role of the terminal and internal loop of the channel in gating by different mutants. The step-wise conformational change of the channel was also reversible and controllable, making it an ideal nano-valve for constructing a nanomachine with potential applications in nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine.

Sensitive sequence-specific molecular identification system comprising an aluminum micro-nanofluidic chip and associated real-time confocal detector

We developed a micro-nanofluidic bioreactor-detector system for isothermal DNA amplification and sensitive real-time detection of the amplified products for sequence-specific molecular identification. Aluminum (Al) chips with a range of volumes from 7.07 μL to 39 nL and an associated real-time confocal optical detector are described. The detector provided highly sensitive fluorescence detection and low background noise. One of the important aspects of the system was the development of a surface processing technique that afforded chips with an inert surface to improve amplification stability in micro-nanoliter reaction assays. The micro-nanofluidic system exhibited more sensitive exponential DNA amplification characteristics than a standard PCR tube amplification system with a volume of 25 μL, the response time was clearly reduced at the same DNA template concentration, and the sensitivity in the number of copies of the DNA template was improved by >600-fold. Efficient amplification of nucleic acid was achieved with as few as three copies of the DNA template. This system may be useful for the development of novel lab-on-a-chip devices and shows promise for single-molecule amplification in droplet assays, with potential applications in nanobiotechnology, nanomedicine, and clinical molecular diagnostics.

Biogenic Nano-Synthesis; towards the Efficient Production of the Biocompatible Gold Nanoparticles

We present a rapid biogenic method for the production of nanoscale gold particles using pear extract. The formation and stability of pear-derived gold nanoparticles (Pear-AuNPs) were monitored by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Their morphology, elemental composition and crystalline phase were determined by transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The average core size of crystalline Pear-AuNPs was in the range of <TEX>$10{\pm}5\;nm$</TEX> and the observed morphology was spherical. The X-ray photoelectron spectrum showed a strong peak for the pure 'Au' phase. The circular dichroism spectrum indicated the natural capping ability of the pear extract, which generated peptide-gold nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were stable in aqueous solution for two months. A cell viability assay of Pear-AuNPs showed biocompatibility with human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Accordingly, this eco-friendly process for the bio-mimetic production of Pear-AuNPs is nontoxic in nature; consequently, it will find potential application in nano-biotechnology.

Modeling transport through synthetic nanopores

Nanopores in thin synthetic membranes have emerged as convenient tools for high-throughput single-molecule manipulation and analysis. Because of their small sizes and their ability to selectively transport solutes through otherwise impermeable membranes, nanopores have numerous potential applications in nanobiotechnology. For most applications, properties of the nanopore systems have to be characterize at the atomic level, which is currently beyond the limit of experimental methods. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can provide the desired information, however several technical challenges have to be met before this method can be applied to synthetic nanopore systems. Here, we highlight our recent work on modeling synthetic nanopores of the most common types. First, we describe a novel graphical tool for setting up all-atom systems incorporating inorganic materials and biomolecules. Next, we illustrate the application of the MD method for silica, silicon nitride, and polyethylene terephthalate nanopores. Following that, we describe a method for modeling synthetic surfaces using a bias potential. Future directions for tool development and nanopore modeling are briefly discussed at the end of this article.

Optical Signatures of Small Nanoparticles in a Conventional Microscope

Optical signatures (see left of image) are generated in a carefully adjusted optical microscope for single gold particles (center of image, at cross-hairs) of diameter as small as 3 nm. The three-dimensional nature of the signatures is shown by z stacks (right of image, at one-quarter scale) and provides the potential for locating, sizing and tracking particles in a conventional optical microscope with applications in nanoengineering and nanobiotechnology.

Phylogenetic position of sponges in early metazoan evolution and bionic applications of siliceous sponge spicules

Sponges are the oldest and the simplest but not primitive multicellular animals. They represent the earliest evolutionary metazoan phylum still extant. It was a long and painful scientific process to position the most enigmatic and mysterious metazoan, the Porifera, into their correct phylogenetic place among the eukaryotes in general and multicellular animals in particular. As living fossils, sponges provide the best evidence for the early evolution of Metazoa. More recently, interest has been focused on the bionic applications of sponges’ siliceous spicules, after the discovery of their unique structure and high fiber performance. In this review, the emergence of sponges, evolutionary novelties found in sponges, and the phylogenetic position of sponges in early metazoan evolution are highlighted. In addition, the present state of knowledge on silicatein-mediated “biosilica” formation in marine sponges, including the involvement of other molecules in silica metabolism and their potential application in nanobiotechnology and medicine, is given.