Protein-Templated Biomimetic Silica Nanoparticles

Abstract

Biomimetic silica particles can be synthesized as a nanosized material within minutes in a process mimicked from living organisms such as diatoms and sponges. In this work, we have studied the effect of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a template to direct the synthesis of silica nanoparticles (NPs) with the potential to associate proteins on its surface. Our approach enables the formation of spheres with different physicochemical properties. Particles using BSA as a protein template were smaller (∼250–380 nm) and were more monodisperse than those lacking the proteic core (∼700–1000 nm) as seen by dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) analysis. The absence of BSA during synthesis produced silica nanoparticles without any porosity that was detectable by nitrogen adsorption, whereas particles containing BSA developed porosity in the range of 4 to 5 nm which collapsed on the removal of BSA, thus producing smaller pores. These results were in accordance with the pore size calculated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HTEM). The reproducibility of the BSA-templated nanoparticle properties was determined by analyzing four batches of independent synthesizing experiments that maintained their properties. The high positive superficial charge of the nanoparticles facilitated adsorption under mild conditions of a range of proteins from an E. coli extract and a commercial preparation of laccase from Trametes versicolor. All of the proteins were quantitatively desorbed. Experiments conducted showed the reusability of the particles as supports for the ionic adsorption of the biomolecules. The protein loading capacity of the BSA-based biomimetic particles was determined using laccase as 98.7 ± 6.6 mg·g–1 of particles.

Functional Macromolecule‐Enabled Colloidal Synthesis: From Nanoparticle Engineering to Multifunctionality

“…Since then, proteins with redox properties have been utilized as versatile nanoreactors for bottom‐up fabrication of a variety of protein‐conjugated nanocrystals owing to the reduction potentials provided by redox amino acids of proteins . In addition to the nanocrystals, proteins were also viable for the synthesis of silica‐based biomimetic nanoparticles, suggesting its versatility for various source of inorganic precursors. On the other hand, the surface topology and residues of the protein are noncontinuous, resulting in discontinued distribution of reduction potentials in the cage.…”

Blueprints for the Next Generation of Bioinspired and Biomimetic Mineralised Composites for Bone Regeneration

“…Barnacle Megabalanus rosa (MRCP20) protein has also shown promising results in the self-assembly of calcite crystals [88]. A few studies have also shown degrees of success producing silica nanoparticles and materials using protein-assisted synthesis techniques [89,90,91]. Coccolithophore proteins offer huge potential for creating novel “ smart interface ” biomaterials for bone repair.…”

Biosilica and bioinspired silica studied by solid-state NMR

“…To fruitfully put this lesson to use, bioinspired matrices have been developed such as biosilica. The definition of biosilica, just like that of biomaterials in general, varies between silica/materials that are formed in nature by living organisms (aka biogenic materials, which are more appropriately referred to as biosilica) and silica/materials that is synthesized in the lab by bioinspired reactions, using molecules from the living organism or their derivatives [32][33][34], to mimic the "natural conditions" (bio-inspired silica). Hereon, for simplicity we will refer to either species as biosilica, as the origin of the material is clearly described along with the experimental details.…”