Taking Advantage of the Morpheein Behavior of Peroxiredoxin in Bionanotechnology

Abstract

Morpheeins are proteins that reversibly assemble into different oligomers, whose architectures are governed by conformational changes of the subunits. This property could be utilized in bionanotechnology where the building of nanometric and new high-ordered structures is required. By capitalizing on the adaptability of morpheeins to create patterned structures and exploiting their inborn affinity toward inorganic and living matter, “bottom-up” creation of nanostructures could be achieved using a single protein building block, which may be useful as such or as scaffolds for more complex materials. Peroxiredoxins represent the paradigm of a morpheein that can be applied to bionanotechnology. This review describes the structural and functional transitions that peroxiredoxins undergo to form high-order oligomers, e.g., rings, tubes, particles, and catenanes, and reports on the chemical and genetic engineering approaches to employ them in the generation of responsive nanostructures and nanodevices. The usefulness of the morpheeins’ behavior is emphasized, supporting their use in future applications.

Single molecule mass photometry reveals the dynamic oligomerization of human and plant peroxiredoxins

“…In the case of the regulation of the human transcription factor STAT3, which is oxidized by HsPRX2, the interaction is stabilized by the presence of ANNEXIN A2 ( Talwar et al., 2020 ). Furthermore, HsPRX3 forms stacks and tubes depending on pH and redox state ( Ardini et al., 2021 ). Reduced HMW aggregates of HsPRX3, as shown here, may serve as storage pools to release dimers and decamers for efficient peroxide detoxification controlling apoptosis.…”

Graphene Oxide and Biomolecules for the Production of Functional 3D Graphene-Based Materials

“…Their monomers are nucleotides and amino acids, respectively, while viruses are larger particles, essentially comprised of a capsid made of proteins that surrounds a molecule of nucleic acid ( Stephanopoulos, 2020 ). These biomolecules are characterized by high structural complexity, specific binding capability, catalytic activity and in some cases high stability in extreme conditions on temperature pressure and pH ( Stephanopoulos, 2020 ; Ardini et al, 2021 ). DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a polymer of nucleotides forming a double-helix of antiparallel strands.…”

“…They showed that this protein can self-assemble with GO sheets dispersed in an aqueous solution at neutral pH, interacting via weak intermolecular interactions. Moreover, due to the presence of cysteine residues, Sm PrxI is also able to simultaneously reduce GO ( Ardini et al, 2016 ; Ardini et al, 2021 ). Furthermore, due to the presence of several His-tags exposed in its lumen, Sm PrxI can bind gold nanoparticles functionalized with nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) in presence of nickel, or even promote the in situ growth of palladium nanoparticles.…”

Bio-Tailored Sensing at the Nanoscale: Biochemical Aspects and Applications

“…Biomolecules represent naturally occurring ready-to-use nanomaterials as they are nanoscopic objects with regular shape, high binding specificity and affinity, surfaces suitable for chemical functionalization and catalytic activity as in the case of enzymes, for instance [ 4 ]. Moreover, biomolecules can be modelled via genetic and protein engineering [ 5 , 6 ] and their surfaces enable the interaction with other nanomaterials; as a result, biomolecules have been widely exploited to functionalize nanomaterials thus enabling precise tailoring of hybrid functional bioconjugates at the nanoscale [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Beyond biomolecules, organic and inorganic nanomaterials with sharpen architecture have attracted interest for their high surface-to-volume ratio, conductivity, shock-bearing ability and optical tunability, e.g., nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanorods, graphene, nanofibers, molybdenum disulfide, carbides, nitrides, carbonitrides and quantum dots [ 3 ].…”