Site-specific control of multiple mineralizations using a designed peptide and DNA

Effect of linearly polarized microwaves on nanomorphology of calcium carbonate mineralization using peptides

Microwaves are used for diverse applications such as mobile phones, ovens, and therapy devices. However, there are few reports on the effects of microwaves on diseases other than cancer, and on physiological processes. Here, we focused on CaCO₃ mineralization as a model of biomineralization and attempted to elucidate the effect of microwaves on CaCO₃ mineralization using peptides. We conducted AFM, ζ potential, HPLC, ICP-AES, and relative permittivity measurements. Our findings show that microwaves alter the nanomorphology of the CaCO₃ precipitate, from sphere-like particles to string-like structures. Furthermore, microwaves have little effect on the mineralization when the mineralization ability of a peptide is high, but a large effect when the precipitation ability is low. Our findings may be applicable to not only the treatment of teeth and bones but also the development of organic-inorganic nanobiomaterials. This methodology can be expanded to other molecular/atomic reactions under various microwave conditions to alter reaction activity parameters.

Intracellular mineralization of gold nanoparticles using gold ion-binding peptides with cell-penetrating ability

We developed a system to directly produce gold nanoparticles in cells by intracellular mineralization in lower concentration than conventional methods using a peptide consisting of a cell-penetrating sequence and a gold ion-binding sequence. Furthermore, we could control the uniquely shaped gold nanostructures that were produced by changing peptide structures.

Elemental composition control of gold-titania nanocomposites by site-specific mineralization using artificial peptides and DNA

Biomineralization, the precipitation of various inorganic compounds in biological systems, can be regulated in terms of the size, morphology, and crystal structure of these compounds by biomolecules such as proteins and peptides. However, it is difficult to construct complex inorganic nanostructures because they precipitate randomly in solution. Here, we report that the elemental composition of inorganic nanocomposites can be controlled by site-specific mineralization by changing the number of two inorganic-precipitating peptides bound to DNA. With a focus on gold and titania, we constructed a gold-titania photocatalyst that responds to visible light excitation. Both microscale and macroscale observations revealed that the elemental composition of this gold-titania nanocomposite can be controlled in several ten nm by changing the DNA length and the number of peptide binding sites on the DNA. Furthermore, photocatalytic activity and cell death induction effect under visible light (>450 nm) irradiation of the manufactured gold-titania nanocomposite was higher than that of commercial gold-titania and titania. Thus, we have succeeded in forming titania precipitates on a DNA terminus and gold precipitates site-specifically on double-stranded DNA as intended. Such nanometer-scale control of biomineralization represent a powerful and efficient tool for use in nanotechnology, electronics, ecology, medical science, and biotechnology.

Effect of tryptophan residues on gold mineralization by a gold reducing peptide

AuBP1, obtained by phage display selection, was previously shown to produce gold nanoparticles without reducing agents. The tryptophan (Trp) residue located at the N-terminus of this peptide contributes to the reduction of Au³⁺ to Au⁰ and is involved in the nucleation and crystal growth of gold nanoparticles. However, clear guidelines for relationships between the number of Trp residues in the peptide and its gold reducing ability have not been established. We focused on gold mineralization and attempted to elucidate aspects of the underlying mechanism. We performed a detailed evaluation of the effects of modifying the N-terminus of the core sequence on gold mineralization without reducing agents. Besides, advantages of utilizing peptides in manufacturing gold nanoparticles are shown. UV-Vis measurements, TEM observations, and kinetic analyses were used to show that increasing the number of Trp residues in the peptide increases the reducing ability, causing predominance of the nucleation reaction and the production of small gold nanoparticles. In addition, these peptides also had the ability as a dispersant to protect the surface of gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, the catalytic activity of mineralized gold nanoparticles with peptides was higher than that of a commercial gold nanoparticle. This study should help to elucidate the relationship between peptide sequence and mineralization ability for use in materials chemistry.

Increasing the number of tryptophan (Trp) in peptides led to higher gold reducing ability and the peptides could disperse the generated gold-nanoparticles.