Microscopic and spectroscopic study of the corona formation and unfolding of human haemoglobin in presence of ZnO nanoparticles

The interaction of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) with human haemoglobin (Hb) is studied for the biologically safe application of ZnO NPs in the human body. The Hb corona is formed around the ZnO nanoparticles, directly observed from high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images. Hb formed ‘hard corona' on the surface of ZnO NPs from an exponential association mechanism over a very short duration, as well as unfolding of Hb that occurred over a long lifetime. Dynamic light scattering measurements demonstrated that the ZnO NPs were completely covered by Hb with shell thickness of c. 6 nm that formed a ‘hard corona'. Zeta potential measurements represented that the ZnO NPs were fully covered by Hb molecules using an exponential association mechanism. Tryptophans (TRY), as well as heme‐porphyrin moieties of Hb, are the major binding sites for ZnO NPs. The nature of the interaction between ZnO NPs and Hb was analysed from the fluorescence quenching of TRYs. Electrostatic interaction, along with the hydrophobic interaction between ZnO NPs and Hb, is responsible for the conformational change in Hb due to increase in the percentage of β‐sheets together with a decrease in α‐helices.     

Fabrication of Nano-engineered Transparent Conducting Oxides by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Nanosecond Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) in the presence of a background gas allows the deposition of metal oxides with tunable morphology, structure, density and stoichiometry by a proper control of the plasma plume expansion dynamics. Such versatility can be exploited to produce nanostructured films from compact and dense to nanoporous characterized by a hierarchical assembly of nano-sized clusters. In particular we describe the detailed methodology to fabricate two types of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films as transparent electrodes in photovoltaic devices: 1) at low O₂ pressure, compact films with electrical conductivity and optical transparency close to the state of the art transparent conducting oxides (TCO) can be deposited at room temperature, to be compatible with thermally sensitive materials such as polymers used in organic photovoltaics (OPVs); 2) highly light scattering hierarchical structures resembling a forest of nano-trees are produced at higher pressures. Such structures show high Haze factor (>80%) and may be exploited to enhance the light trapping capability. The method here described for AZO films can be applied to other metal oxides relevant for technological applications such as TiO₂, Al₂O₃, WO₃ and Ag₄O₄.     

新型冠状病毒纳米PCR快速检测方法的建立

新型冠状病毒(SARS-CoV-2)感染可导致致命性肺炎,且极具传染性。自2019年年末在我国出现以来,已在全球蔓延。为了建立一种灵敏、快速检测SARS-CoV-2的分子检测方法,本研究使用金纳米颗粒配合普通PCR检测方法,针对SARS-CoV-2核衣壳蛋白建立了SARS-CoV-2 NanoPCR新型分子检测方法。特异性结果显示,该方法对猪流行性腹泻病毒、牛冠状病毒、犬冠状病毒、水貂冠状病毒、猫传染性腹膜炎病毒均无交叉反应,表明该方法的特异性良好。敏感性结果显示,该方法的最低检测量为3.69×10⁴拷贝/μL,高于普通PCR最低检测量10倍,表明该方法的敏感性良好。使用建立的方法对3份临床样品进行检测,该方法与普通PCR方法结果一致,10倍稀释样品后,NanoPCR相比较普通PCR条带仍然具有较高辨识度。综上,本研究建立的灵敏、特异的NanoPCR方法可以对临床样品进行快速诊断和鉴定。     

Selenium nanoparticles from Lactobacillus paracasei HM1 capable of antagonizing animal pathogenic fungi as a new source from human breast milk

The current study was performed to develop a simple, safe, and cost-effective technique for the biosynthesis of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) from lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from human breast milk with antifungal activity against animal pathogenic fungi. The LAB was selected based on their speed of transforming sodium selenite (Na₂SeO₃) to SeNPs. Out of the four identified LAB isolates, only one strain produced dark red color within 32 h of incubation, indicating that this isolate was the fastest in transforming Na₂SeO₃ to SeNPs; and was chosen for the biosynthesis of LAB-SeNPs. The superior isolate was further identified as Lactobacillus paracasei HM1 (MW390875) based on matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and phylogenetic tree analysis of 16S rRNA sequence alignments. The optimum experimental conditions for the biosynthesis of SeNPs by L. paracasei HM1 were found to be pH (6.0), temperature (35˚C), Na₂SeO₃ (4.0 mM), reaction time (32 h), and agitation speed (160 rpm). The ultraviolet absorbance of L. paracasei-SeNPs was detected at 300 nm, and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) captured a diameter range between 3.0 and 50.0 nm. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) provided a clear image of the active groups associated with the stability of L. paracasei-SeNPs. The size of L. paracasei-SeNPs using dynamic light scattering technique was 56.91 ± 1.8 nm, and zeta potential value was −20.1 ± 0.6 mV in one peak. The data also revealed that L. paracasei-SeNPs effectively inhibited the growth of Candida and Fusarium species, and this was further confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The current study concluded that the SeNPs obtained from L. paracasei HM1 could be used to prepare biological antifungal formulations effective against major animal pathogenic fungi. The antifungal activity of the biologically synthesized SeNPs using L. paracasei HM1 outperforms the chemically produced SeNPs. In vivo studies showing the antagonistic effect of SeNPs on pathogenic fungi are underway to demonstrate the potential of a therapeutic agent to treat animals against major infectious fungal diseases.     

Ultrafine Pt Nanoparticle‐Decorated Pyrite‐Type CoS2 Nanosheet Arrays Coated on Carbon Cloth as a Bifunctional Electrode for Overall Water Splitting

To improve the utilization efficiency of precious metals, metal‐supported materials provide a direction for fabricating highly active and stable heterogeneous catalysts. Herein, carbon cloth (CC)‐supported Earth‐abundant CoS₂ nanosheet arrays (CoS₂/CC) are presented as ideal substrates for ultrafine Pt deposition (Pt‐CoS₂/CC) to achieve remarkable performance toward the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER) in alkaline solutions. Notably, the Pt‐CoS₂/CC hybrid delivers an overpotential of 24 mV at 10 mA cm^?2 and a mass activity of 3.89 A Pt_mg^?1, which is 4.7 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C, at an overpotential of 130 mV for catalyzing the HER. An alkali‐electrolyzer using Pt‐CoS₂/CC as a bifunctional electrode enables a water‐splitting current density of 10 mA cm^?2 at a low voltage of 1.55 V and can sustain for more than 20 h, which is superior to that of the state‐of‐the‐art Pt/C+RuO₂ catalyst. Further experimental and theoretical simulation studies demonstrate that strong electronic interaction between Pt and CoS₂ synergistically optimize hydrogen adsorption/desorption behaviors and facilitate the in situ generation of OER active species, enhancing the overall water‐splitting performance. This work highlights the regulation of interfacial and electronic synergy in pursuit of highly efficient and durable supported catalysts for hydrogen and oxygen electrocatalytic applications.     

High throughput covalent immobilization process for improvement of shelf-life,operational cycles,relative activity in organic media and enzymatic kinetics of urease and its application for urea removal from water samples

High throughput covalent urease immobilization was performed through the amide bond formation between the urease and the amino-functional MNPs. The enzyme’s performances, including shelf-life, reusability, enzymatic kinetics, and the enzyme relative activity in organic media was improved. At optimal conditions, the immobilization efficiency was calculated about 95.0% with keeping 94.7% of the urease initial specific activity. The optimal pH for maximum activity of the free and immobilized urease was calculated as 7.0 at 37.0 °C and 8.0 at 60.0 °C, respectively. The kinetics studies showed the K_m of 26.0 mM and 8.0 mM and the V_max of 5.31 μmol mg⁻¹ min⁻¹ and 3.93 μmol mg⁻¹ min⁻¹ for the free and immobilized urease, respectively. The ratio K_cat/K_m as a measure of catalytic efficiency and enzyme specificity was calculated as 0.09 mg mL⁻¹ min⁻¹ and 0.22 mg mL⁻¹ min⁻¹ for the free and immobilized urease, respectively, indicating an improvement in the enzymatic kinetics. The shelf-life and operational studies of immobilized urease indicated that approximately 97.7% and 88.5% of its initial activity was retained after 40 days and 17 operational cycles, respectively. The immobilized urease was utilized to urea removal from water samples with an efficiency between 91.5–95.0%.     

Application of multi-component reaction for covalent immobilization of two lipases on aldehyde-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles; production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil

Lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (RML) and Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase (TLL) were immobilized on silica core-shell magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂) produced by coating Fe₃O₄ core with silica shell. The nanoparticles were functionalized with aldehyde groups followed by immobilization of RML and TLL by using a multi-component reaction in an extremely mild condition. Rapid immobilization of both enzymes (1.5−12 h) with high immobilization yields (81–100%) was observed. The maximum loading capacity of the support was determined to be 81 mg for RML and 97 mg for TLL. The thermal stability of the immobilized derivatives of RML and TLL were greatly improved by retaining 54 and 97 % of their initial activities at 65 °C, respectively. The immobilized preparations were used to produce biodiesel by transesterification of waste cooking oil. In an optimization study, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and a central composite rotatable design (CCRD) were used to study the effect of amount of biocatalyst, temperature, reaction time, water adsorbent (wt.%) and ratio of t-butanol to oil (wt.%) on the yield of biodiesel production. Biodiesel production yield by immobilized TLL reached 93.1 % under optimal conditions while the maximum yield for RML was 57.5 %. Both immobilized derivatives showed high reusability after 5 cycles of the reaction.     

Effect of the concentration of protein and nanoparticles on the structure of biohybrid nanocomposites

We present colloidal nanocomposites formed by incorporating magnetite Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (MNPs) with lysozyme amyloid fibrils (LAFs). Preparation of two types of solutions, with and without addition of salt, was carried out to elucidate the structure of MNPs-incorporated fibrillary nanocomposites and to study the effect of the presence of salt on the stability of the nanocomposites. The structural morphology of the LAFs and their interaction with MNPs were analyzed by atomic force microscopy and small-angle x-ray scattering measurements. The results indicate that conformational properties of the fibrils are dependent on the concentration of protein, and the precise ratio of the concentration of the protein and MNPs is crucially important for the stability of the fibrillary nanocomposites. Our results confirm that despite the change in fibrillary morphology induced by the varying concentration of the protein, the adsorption of MNPs on the surface of LAF is morphologically independent. Moreover, most importantly, the samples containing salt have excellent stability for up to 1 year of shelf-life.     

A synthetic biology approach for the fabrication of functional (fluorescent magnetic) bioorganic–inorganic hybrid materials in sponge primmorphs

During evolution, sponges (Porifera) have honed the genetic toolbox and biosynthetic mechanisms for the fabrication of siliceous skeletal components (spicules). Spicules carry a protein scaffold embedded within biogenic silica (biosilica) and feature an amazing range of optical, structural, and mechanical properties. Thus, it is tempting to explore the low-energy synthetic pathways of spiculogenesis for the fabrication of innovative hybrid materials. In this synthetic biology approach, the uptake of multifunctional nonbiogenic nanoparticles (fluorescent, superparamagnetic) by spicule-forming cells of bioreactor-cultivated sponge primmorphs provides access to spiculogenesis. The ingested nanoparticles were detected within intracellular vesicles resembling silicasomes (silica-rich cellular compartments) and as cytosolic clusters where they lent primmorphs fluorescent/magnetic properties. During spiculogenesis, the nanoparticles initially formed an incomplete layer around juvenile, intracellular spicules. In the mature, extracellular spicules the nanoparticles were densely arranged as a surface layer that rendered the resulting composite fluorescent and magnetic. By branching off the conventional route of solid-state materials synthesis under harsh conditions, a new pathway has been opened to a versatile platform that allows adding functionalities to growing spicules as templates in living cells, using nonbiogenic nanoscale building blocks with multiple functionalities. The magnet-assisted alignment renders this composite with its fluorescent/magnetic properties potentially suitable for application in biooptoelectronics and microelectronics (e.g., microscale on-chip waveguides for applications of optical detection and sensing).