Polyphenol‐Mediated Assembly of Proteins for Engineering Functional Materials

Abstract

Functional materials composed of proteins have attracted much interest owing to the inherent and diverse functionality of proteins. However, establishing general techniques for assembling proteins into nanomaterials is challenging owing to the complex physicochemical nature and potential denaturation of proteins. Here, a simple, versatile strategy is introduced to fabricate functional protein assemblies through the interfacial assembly of proteins and polyphenols (e.g., tannic acid) on various substrates (organic, inorganic, and biological). The dominant interactions (hydrogen‐bonding, hydrophobic, and ionic) between the proteins and tannic acid were elucidated; most proteins undergo multiple noncovalent stabilizing interactions with polyphenols, which can be used to engineer responsiveness into the assemblies. The proteins retain their structure and function within the assemblies, thereby enabling their use in various applications (e.g., catalysis, fluorescence imaging, and cell targeting).

Polyphenol‐Containing Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Properties, and Therapeutic Delivery

“…Polyphenols and MPNs were first used as universal coating materials benefiting for the versatile adhesive property of polyphenols to almost all kinds of surfaces, regardless of the surface chemistries. [260][261][262][263][264][265][266] As a result, polyphenols have been used as coating materials to functionalize a host of nanomaterials for biomedical applications. [267][268][269][270] The polyphenols coated on the surfaces of various nanomaterials can easily interact with the amine and thiol groups via Michael-type addition or Schiff base reaction, self-polymerize in alkaline media, and chelate with metal ions, endowing the resulting nanomaterials with desired structures, properties, and functions.…”

Fabrication of Oil-in-Water Emulsions with Whey Protein Isolate–Puerarin Composites: Environmental Stability and Interfacial Behavior

“…Previous molecular docking analysis also showed that PUE not only interacted with the positively charged lysine residue, but also interacted with the negatively charged glutamic acid residue [4]. This may also contribute to the decrease in negative charge [25,26].…”

“…Though the presence of PUE increased the ionic stability, both the WPI and the WPI-PUE emulsions were unstable in the presence of salt. The WPI-PUE composites might also disassemble because of electrostatic shielding in the presence of NaCl [26].…”

Effect of the Buffer on the Buildup and Stability of Tannic Acid/Collagen Multilayer Films Applied as Antibacterial Coatings

“…Similar results were obtained with a higher release in the presence of 150 mM NaCl in the case of citrate films, which confirms the contribution of ionic interactions in these films. 46 Concerning E. Coli, a decrease in the normalized growth of 45% was observed after 24 h of contact with (COL/TA) 7 citrate films ( Figure S13 in the SI). It is known that the bactericidal activity of tannins is lower against gram-negative bacteria than against gram-positive bacteria.…”

“…Polyphenols can have multiple interactions with proteins depending on their physico-chemical parameters, such as molecular weight, hydrophobicity and isoelectric point. 46 Tannins are known to interact with collagen 47 and other proline-rich proteins 48 ) was calculated from the heat measured at each step of the titration subtracting the heat of the control experiments, i.e. buffer in buffer and titrant dilution in buffer ( Figure 2).…”