Interest in developing diverse nanoparticle (NP)-biological composite materials continues to grow almost unabated. This is motivated primarily by the desire to simultaneously exploit the properties of both NP and biological components in new hybrid devices or materials that can be applied in areas ranging from energy harvesting and nanoscale electronics to biomedical diagnostics. The utility and effectiveness of these composites will be predicated on the ability to assemble these structures with control over NP/biomolecule ratio, biomolecular orientation, biomolecular activity, and the separation distance within the NP-bioconjugate architecture. This degree of control will be especially critical in creating theranostic NP-bioconjugates that, as a single vector, are capable of multiple functions in vivo, including targeting, image contrast, biosensing, and drug delivery. In this review, a perspective is given on current and developing chemistries that can provide improved control in the preparation of NP-bioconjugates. The nanoscale properties intrinsic to several prominent NP materials are briefly described to highlight the motivation behind their use. NP materials of interest include quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, viral capsids, liposomes, and NPs composed of gold, lanthanides, silica, polymers, or magnetic materials. This review includes a critical discussion on the design considerations for NP-bioconjugates and the unique challenges associated with chemistry at the biological-nanoscale interface-the liabilities of traditional bioconjugation chemistries being particularly prominent therein. Select bioorthogonal chemistries that can address these challenges are reviewed in detail, and include chemoselective ligations (e.g., hydrazone and Staudinger ligation), cycloaddition reactions in click chemistry (e.g., azide-alkyne cyclyoaddition, tetrazine ligation), metal-affinity coordination (e.g., polyhistidine), enzyme driven modifications (e.g., HaloTag, biotin ligase), and other site-specific chemistries. The benefits and liabilities of particular chemistries are discussed by highlighting relevant NP-bioconjugation examples from the literature. Potential chemistries that have not yet been applied to NPs are also discussed, and an outlook on future developments in this field is given.
Virus-based nanoparticles (VNPs) from a variety of sources are being developed for biomedical and nanotechnology applications that include tissue targeting and drug delivery. However, the fate of most of those particles in vivo has not been investigated. Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV), a plant comovirus, has been found to be amenable to the attachment of a variety of molecules to its coat protein, as well as to modification of the coat protein sequence by genetic means. We report here the results of studies of the bio-distribution, toxicology, and pathology of CPMV in mice. Plasma clearance and tissue biodistribution were measured using CPMV particles derivatized with lanthanide metal complexes. CPMV particles were cleared rapidly from plasma, falling to undetectable levels within 20 minutes. By 30 minutes the majority of the injected VNPs were trapped in the liver and to a lesser extent the spleen with undetectable amounts in other tissues. At doses of 1 mg, 10 mg and 100 mg per kg body weight, no toxicity was noted and the mice appeared to be normal. Hematology was essentially normal, although with the highest dose examined, the mice were somewhat leukopenic with relative decreases in both neutrophils and lymphocytes. Histological examination of spleen showed cellular infiltration, which upon flow cytometry analyses revealed elevated B lymphocytes on the first day following virus administration that subsequently subsided. Microscopic evaluation of various other tissues revealed a lack of apparent tissue degeneration or necrosis. Overall, CPMV appears to be a safe and non-toxic platform for in vivo biomedical applications.
Icosahedral virus particles decorated with a Gd(DOTA) analogue by Cu-mediated azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) and/or with Gd(3+) ions by coordination to the viral nucleoprotein show increased T(1) relaxivity relative to free Gd(DOTA) complexes in solution.
The unique properties provided by hybrid semiconductor quantum dot- (QD) bioconjugates continue to stimulate interest for many applications ranging from biosensing to energy harvesting. Understanding both the structure and function of these composite materials is an important component in their development. Here, we compare the architecture that results from using two common self-assembly chemistries to attach DNA to QDs. DNA modified to display either a terminal biotin or an oligohistidine peptidyl sequence was assembled to streptavidin/amphiphilic polymer- or PEG-functionalized QDs, respectively. A series of complementary acceptor dye-labeled DNA were hybridized to different positions on the DNA in each QD configuration and the separation distances between the QD donor and each dye-acceptor probed with Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). The polyhistidine self-assembly yielded QD-DNA bioconjugates where predicted and experimental separation distances matched reasonably well. Although displaying efficient FRET, data from QD-DNA bioconjugates assembled using biotin-streptavidin chemistry did not match any predicted separation distances. Modeling based upon known QD and DNA structures along with the linkage chemistry and FRET-derived distances was used to simulate each QD-DNA structure and provide insight into the underlying architecture. Although displaying some rotational freedom, the DNA modified with the polyhistidine assembles to the QD with its structure extended out from the QD-PEG surface as predicted. In contrast, the random orientation of streptavidin on the QD surface resulted in DNA with a wide variety of possible orientations relative to the QD which cannot be controlled during assembly. These results suggest that if a particular QD-biocomposite structure is desired, for example, random versus oriented, the type of bioconjugation chemistry utilized will be a key influencing factor.
Enzymes that activate dioxygen or hydrogen peroxide exhibit remarkable catalytic activity and selectivity, but oxidative and hydrolytic fragility limit their technological applicability. Their catalytic activity-pH profiles are usually bell-shaped, resulting from either reversible or irreversible activity loss at extreme pH. 1 Their mere existence challenges chemists to design low-molecular, protein-free catalysts 2 that are at least as active, while being more robust in aggressively oxidizing acidic and basic environments. Recently, we introduced a new class of oxidatively robust "green" 3 catalysts for H 2 O 2 oxidation of a wide spectrum of substrates 4 including facile polychlorophenol mineralization. 5 The Fe III centers of the nontoxic catalysts 5 are coordinated to tetra-amido macrocyclic ligands giving TAML oxidant activators, Figure 1.When extracted from the protein environments of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or cytochrome P450, the catalytic properties of the Fe III porphyrin cofactors are inadequate. In contrast, Fe III -TAML activators are exceptionally active; the second-order rate constants for the rate-limiting activation of H 2 O 2 are as high as 10 4 M -1 s -1 at 25°C and optimal pH. 6 TAML catalysts are effective in nanomolar to low micromolar concentrations in water where they can attain turnover frequencies in the thousands per minute. 5 Despite this high activity, the design protocol applied to developing Fe III -TAML activators (R ) alkyl) led, inter alia, to their protection from rapid oxidative degradation. However, as with HRP, they rapidly lose activity at pH < 4 by demetalation, although HRP's Fe IIIporphyrin is more resistant to acidic conditions. 7 Inactivation mechanisms for small molecule TAML activators should be much easier to understand than those of enzymes, and such understanding should facilitate the design of more stable catalysts. We illustrate this argument using structural, spectral, kinetic, and mechanistic studies of Fe III -TAML activators. Stabilization against H + -induced demetalation has been achieved of 10 5 -fold and 10 11 -fold in mildly and strongly acidic solutions, respectively.Iron(III)-TAML activators are synthesized either in chloro or in aqua forms (Figure 1). 8 X-ray structures demonstrate 5-coordination (5-CN) with long Fe-Cl (1a,e) and Fe-OH 2 (2a) bonds (Figure 1 and Supporting Information). 9 5-CN is typical of HRP iron. 1b If the same geometry holds in solution, the open axial site could contribute to both high catalytic activity of Fe III -TAMLs toward H 2 O 2 and the facile proteolysis. The speciation of Fe III -TAMLs in water was studied by UV/vis and EPR. Principal conclusions derived from consistent results (Supporting Information) are summarized below and shown in Scheme 1. (i) The chloro ligands of 1 undergo rapid hydrolysis as expected for species with long FeCl bonds; 10 equilibrium data, K Cl (Table 1), indicate insignificant Cl -coordination for [Cl -] e 0.5 M. (ii) Cl -hydrolysis affords aqua species accounting for the similarity of 1...
Virus-like particles composed of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or bacteriophage Qβ capsid proteins have been labeled with azide-or alkyne-containing unnatural amino acids by expression in a methionine auxotrophic strain of E. coli. The substitution does not affect the ability of the particles to selfassemble into icosahedral structures indistinguishable from native forms. The azide and alkyne groups were addressed by Cu(I)-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition: HBV particles were decomposed by the formation of more than 120 triazole linkages per capsid in a location-dependent manner, whereas Qβ suffered no such instability. The marriage of these well-known techniques of sensecodon reassignment and bioorthogonal chemical coupling provides the capability to construct polyvalent particles displaying a wide variety of functional groups with near-perfect control of spacing.
Quantum dots (QDs) are loaded with a series of peptides and proteins of increasing size, including a <20 residue peptide, myoglobin, mCherry, and maltose binding protein, which together cover a range of masses from <2.2 to approximately 44 kDa. Conjugation to the surface of dihydrolipoic acid-functionalized QDs is facilitated by polyhistidine metal affinity coordination. Increasing ratios of dye-labeled peptides and proteins are self-assembled to the QDs and then the bioconjugates are separated and analyzed using agarose gel electrophoresis. Fluorescent visualization of both conjugated and unbound species allows determination of an experimentally derived maximum loading number. Molecular modeling utilizing crystallographic coordinates or space-filling structures of the peptides and proteins also allow the predicted maximum loadings to the QDs to be estimated. Comparison of the two sets of results provides insight into the nature of the QD surface and reflects the important role played by the nanoparticle's hydrophilic solubilizing surface ligands. It is found that for the larger protein molecules steric hindrance is the major packing constraint. In contrast, for the smaller peptides, the number of available QD binding sites is the principal determinant. These results can contribute towards an overall understanding of how to engineer designer bioconjugates for both QDs and other nanoparticle materials.
Combining the inherent scaffolding provided by DNA structure with spatial control over fluorophore positioning allows the creation of DNA-based photonic wires with the capacity to transfer excitation energy over distances greater than 150 Å. We demonstrate hybrid multifluorophore DNA-photonic wires that both self-assemble around semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and exploit their unique photophysical properties. In this architecture, the QDs function as both central nanoscaffolds and ultraviolet energy harvesting donors that drive Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) cascades through the DNA wires with emissions that approach the near-infrared. To assemble the wires, DNA fragments labeled with a series of increasingly red-shifted acceptor-dyes were hybridized in a predetermined linear arrangement to a complementary DNA template that was chemoselectively modified with a hexahistidine-appended peptide. The peptide portion facilitated metal-affinity coordination of multiple hybridized DNA-dye structures to a central QD completing the final nanocrystal-DNA photonic wire structure. We assembled several such hybrid structures where labeled-acceptor dyes were excited by the QDs and arranged to interact with each other via consecutive FRET processes. The inherently facile reconfiguration properties of this design allowed testing of alternate formats including the addition of an intercalating dye located in the template DNA or placement of multiple identical dye acceptors that engaged in homoFRET. Lastly, a photonic structure linking the central QD with multiple copies of DNA hybridized with 4-sequentially arranged acceptor dyes and demonstrating 4-consecutive energy transfer steps was examined. Step-by-step monitoring of energy transfer with both steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy allowed efficiencies to be tracked through the structures and suggested that acceptor dye quantum yields are the predominant limiting factor. Integrating such DNA-based photonic structures with QDs can help create a new generation of biophotonic wire assemblies with widespread potential in nanotechnology.
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