Saturation of Binding ApproximationAccording to De Roe, et al., 1 typical dissociation constants (K d values) for AuNP binding range from 4 to 300 nM. In this work, we assume that AuNPs are covered with N independent, identical binding sites. Assuming a fixed total concentration of AuNPs (M tot ) and a fixed protein (ligand) concentration (L tot ), the degree of binding (ܺ ത ) is given by: 2

The role of cysteine residues in the protein binding kinetics and stability on gold nanoparticles (AuNP) was studied using AuNP localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in combination with an organothiol (OT) displacement method. GB3, the third IgG-binding domain of protein G, was used to model protein-AuNP adsorption. While wild-type GB3 (GB30) contains no cysteine residues, bioengineered GB3 variants containing one (GB31) and two (GB32) cysteine residues were also tested. The cysteine content has no significant effect on GB3 binding kinetics with AuNPs, and most protein adsorption occurs within the first few seconds upon protein/AuNP mixing. However, the stability of GB3 on the AuNP surface against OT displacement depends strongly on the cysteine content and the age of the AuNP/GB3 mixture. The GB30 covered AuNPs can be completely destabilized and aggregated by OTs, regardless of the age of the GB30/AuNP mixtures. Long-time incubation of GB31 or GB32 with AuNPs can stabilize AuNPs against the OT adsorption inducted aggregation. This study indicates that multiple forces involved in the GB3/AuNP interaction, and covalent binding between cysteine and AuNP is essential for a stable protein/AuNP complex.

Gold nanoparticle– (AuNP–) protein conjugates are potentially useful in a broad array of diagnostic and therapeutic applications, but the physical basis of the simultaneous adsorption of multiple proteins onto AuNP surfaces remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate the contribution of electrostatic interactions to protein–AuNP binding by studying the pH-dependent binding behavior of two proteins, GB3 and ubiquitin. For both proteins, binding to 15-nm citrate-coated AuNPs closely tracks with the predicted net charge using standard pKa values, and a dramatic reduction in binding is observed when lysine residues are chemically methylated. This suggests that clusters of basic residues are involved in binding, and using this hypothesis, we model the pKa shifts induced by AuNP binding. Then, we employ a novel NMR-based approach to monitor the binding competition between GB3 and ubiquitin in situ at different pH values. In light of our model, the NMR measurements reveal that the net charge, binding association constant, and size of each protein play distinct roles at different stages of protein adsorption. When citrate-coated AuNPs and proteins first interact, net charge appears to dominate. However, as citrate molecules are displaced by protein, the surface chemistry changes, and the energetics of binding becomes far more complex. In this case, we observed that GB3 is able to displace ubiquitin at intermediate time scales, even though it has a lower net charge. The thermodynamic model for binding developed here could be the first step toward predicting the binding behavior in biological fluids, such as blood plasma.

Studies of protein and organothiol interactions with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are important for understanding AgNP nanotoxicity, antimicrobial activity, and material fabrications. Reported herein is a systematic investigation of the effects of both reduced and oxidized protein cysteine residues on protein interactions with AgNPs. The model proteins included wild-type and mutated protein GB3 variants that contain 0, 1, or 2 reduced cysteine residues, respectively. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) that contains a total of 34 oxidized (disulfide-linked) cysteine residues and one reduced cysteine residue was also included. Protein cysteine content has no detectable effect on the kinetics of protein/AgNP binding. However, only proteins that contain reduced cysteine residues induce significant AgNP dissolution. Proteins can slow down, but do not prevent the AgNP dissolution induced by subsequently added organothiols. The insights provided in this work are important to the mechanistic understanding of AgNP stability in biofluids that are rich in proteins and amino acid thiols.

The potential applications of protein-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have motivated many studies characterizing protein-AuNP interactions. However, the lack of detailed structural information has hindered our ability to understand the mechanism of protein adsorption on AuNPs. In order to determine the structural perturbations that occur during adsorption, hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) of amide protons was measured for two proteins by NMR. Specifically, we measured both slow (5-300 min) and fast (10-500 ms) H/D exchange rates for GB3 and ubiquitin, two well-characterized proteins. Overall, amide exchange rates are very similar in the presence and absence of AuNPs, supporting a model where the adsorbed protein remains largely folded on the AuNP surface. Small differences in exchange rates are observed for several loop residues, suggesting that the secondary structure remains relatively rigid while loops and surface residues can experience perturbations upon binding. Strikingly, several of these residues are close to lysines, which supports a model where positive surface residues may interact favorably with AuNP-bound citrate. Because these proteins appear to remain folded on AuNP surfaces, these studies suggest that it may be possible to engineer functional AuNP-based nanoconjugates without the use of chemical linkers.