Multiscale modelling of biomolecular corona formation on metallic surfaces

• Parinaz Mosaddeghi Amini,
• Ian Rouse,
• Julia Subbotina and
• Vladimir Lobaskin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 215–229, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.21

• representing the biological aspect of the interface, including amino acids (AAs), milk proteins, and carbohydrates. Additionally, we examine the preferred orientations of these molecules upon adsorption and investigate the kinetics of competitive adsorption among the proteins and lactose, aiming to understand

Study of the reusability and stability of nylon nanofibres as an antibody immobilisation surface

• Inés Peraile,
• Matilde Gil-García,
• Laura González-López,
• Nushin A. Dabbagh-Escalante,
• Juan C. Cabria-Ramos and
• Paloma Lorenzo-Lozano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 83–94, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.8

• of hydrophobic interactions [21][22]. Acidic pH values below 5 cause protein A/G to separate from antibody, probably by imposing positive charges on amino acids with pKa values above 5, such as histidine, as described in Zarrineh et al. for the interaction between protein A and the Fc of antibody [25

New trends in nanobiotechnology

• Pau-Loke Show,
• Kit Wayne Chew,
• Wee-Jun Ong,
• Sunita Varjani and
• Joon Ching Juan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 377–379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.32

• biocompatibility of the nanomaterials is also discussed. The thematic issue also recorded a work on the topic of “Self-assembly of amino acids toward functional biomaterials” [5], where the role of biomaterials in nanobiotechnology is discussed. In this review, the latest advances in amino acid self-assembly and

Biocatalytic synthesis and ordered self-assembly of silica nanoparticles via a silica-binding peptide

• Mustafa Gungormus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 280–290, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.25

• (arginine) amino acids. The hypotheses of this study were as follows: (1) The basic serine and arginine residues in the SiBP can facilitate hydrolysis of the precursor molecules and, thus, catalyze the synthesis of SiO2 particles. (2) The affinity of the SiBP to SiO2 can narrow down the size distribution of

Structural, optical, and bioimaging characterization of carbon quantum dots solvothermally synthesized from o-phenylenediamine

• Zoran M. Marković,
• Milica D. Budimir,
• Martin Danko,
• Dušan D. Milivojević,
• Pavel Kubat,
• Danica Z. Zmejkoski,
• Vladimir B. Pavlović,
• Marija M. Mojsin,
• Milena J. Stevanović and
• Biljana M. Todorović Marković

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 165–174, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.17

• -glucose Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, non-essential amino acids, and penicillin/streptomycin solution (10,000 units penicillin and 10 mg/mL streptomycin) (all from Thermo Fisher Scientific). Cells were maintained in a humidified incubator at 37 °C with

Design of surface nanostructures for chirality sensing based on quartz crystal microbalance

• Yinglin Ma,
• Xiangyun Xiao and
• Qingmin Ji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1201–1219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.100

• forms (enantiomers) that are mirror images of each other. It is a mysterious phenomenon that almost all chiral molecules in living organisms are found in one form, such as right-handed sugars, left-handed amino acids, and right-handed DNA coils. Scientists coined the term “homochirality” to describe

• evaluated. The recognition mechanisms may also be studied by combining QCM with other techniques. Sensing layers by chiral biomolecules As chiral recognitions are fundamental phenomena in biology, biomolecules of amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids are ideal chiral selectors. They have been extensively

• employed in various chiral sensing applications for the study of biological recognition processes [27]. The biomolecule-based selectors discriminate enantiomers of target analytes via their complementarity. This means that the target should energetically and structurally fit with the receptor. Amino acids

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles toward highly efficient photocatalysis and antibacterial application

• Vo Thi Thu Nhu,
• Nguyen Duy Dat,
• Le-Minh Tam and
• Nguyen Hoang Phuong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1108–1119, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.94

• , proteins, DNA, and amino acids [39][40][41]. The O2 causes biomembrane oxidation reactions, damaging tissues [42]. Furthermore, it is reasonable to explain that the additional toxicity that causes bacterial death is due to the fact that zinc solubilization releases Zn2+ ions which can infiltrate into

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• ]. Godavarthi et al. used seaweed (Sargassum fluitans) to synthesize N-CDs. 1H NMR and 13C NMR were used to analyze Sargassum fluitans and showed that amino acids acted as a nitrogen source, for the preparation of N-CDs. The reported N-CDs were used as a fluorescence probe to detect DNA, and gel electrophoresis

• electrochemical properties. Lily bulbs as a green source to synthesize N,P-CDs via a facile, fast, and eco-friendly one-pot microwave-assisted method was reported by Gu et al. Lily bulbs rich in carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and amino acids, can be easily used to prepare such CDs [108]. The microalgae

• Dunaliella salina was used to prepared low-cost N,P-CDs without any external agent. The algal biomass consists of amino acids and proteins, and XPS revealed that the CDs contain pyrrolic nitrogen and phosphate groups showing that these molecules were doped into the lattice of N,P-CDs [109]. Using banana peel

Biomimetic chitosan with biocomposite nanomaterials for bone tissue repair and regeneration

• Se-Kwon Kim,
• Sesha Subramanian Murugan,
• Pandurang Appana Dalavi,
• Sebanti Gupta,
• Sukumaran Anil,
• Gi Hun Seong and
• Jayachandran Venkatesan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1051–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.92

• )propyl-3-trimethylammonium chitosan chloride (HACC) is a chitosan biomaterial used for the treatment of infected bone defects. The arrangements of amino acids in the chitosan (degree of deacetylation) determines the growth and support necessary for osteoblast differentiation. Increasing the degree of

Bioselectivity of silk protein-based materials and their bio-inspired applications

• Hendrik Bargel,
• Vanessa T. Trossmann,
• Christoph Sommer and
• Thomas Scheibel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 902–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.81

• pseudotuberculosis, and enteropathogenic E. coli [83][84]. Another protein-based antimicrobial strategy in nature is the use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) [85]. These molecules are short-length amphipathic peptide molecules (between 10 and 50 amino acids), usually with cationic charges and hydrophobic residues

• proteins (HDPs) was coined [89]. HDPs are rich in cationic amino acids (e.g., arginine and lysine), and amino acids with hydrophobic side chains (e.g., tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine). This composition renders them amphiphilic, which is crucial to their mode of action

• 10–50 amino acids, which are present in larger modular units, often copied up to several hundred times, giving spidroins a high molecular weight of several hundred kilodaltons [109]. The core domains are flanked by two globular terminal domains, both highly conserved and very similar in many spider

Design and selection of peptides to block the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain by molecular docking

• Kendra Ramirez-Acosta,
• Ivan A. Rosales-Fuerte,
• J. Eduardo Perez-Sanchez,
• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Josue Juarez and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 699–711, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.62

• , peptides with great affinity to the RBD were selected. The most common amino acids involved in the recognition of the RBD were identified to design novel peptides based on the number of hydrogen bonds that were formed. At physiological pH, these peptides are almost neutral and soluble in aqueous media

• temporin B and lysozyme (61–80). The net charge calculated for the OAPs varies according to the number of negatively and positively charged amino acids present in the primary structure. The net charge values are in the range of −3.9 to 2.9 at pH 7. The OAPs were selected based on an absolute value of the

• been reported by Debmalya and co-workers, who analyzed the potential of chimeric peptides to block the RBD using an in silico approach. They found that a peptide with 26 amino acids binds to the Thr500 and Asn501 residues of the RBD, while a peptide with 23 amino acids binds to the Tyr489 and Thr500

Stimuli-responsive polypeptide nanogels for trypsin inhibition

• Petr Šálek,
• Jana Dvořáková,
• Sviatoslav Hladysh,
• Diana Oleshchuk,
• Ewa Pavlova,
• Jan Kučka and
• Vladimír Proks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 538–548, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.45

• trypsin because they contain suitable amino acids in their structures that effectively block the active site of trypsin. Keywords: α1-antitrypsin; inflammatory mediator; nanogel; polypeptide; trypsin; Introduction Despite significant and progressive advances in medicine, the global incidence of

• , have the ability to inhibit the trypsin active site because they contain positively charged amino acids (containing NH2 terminal groups) and aromatic amino acids [23][25]. It is known that inhibitors containing these amino acids in their structure can block the active site of trypsin because they

Self-assembly of amino acids toward functional biomaterials

• Huan Ren,
• Lifang Wu,
• Lina Tan,
• Yanni Bao,
• Yuchen Ma,
• Yong Jin and
• Qianli Zou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1140–1150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.85

• nanostructures at both microscopic and macroscopic scales. Amino acids, as the smallest constituent of proteins and the smallest constituent in the bottom-up approach, are the smallest building blocks that can be self-assembled. The self-assembly of single amino acids has the advantages of low synthesis cost

• , simple modeling, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability in vivo. In addition, amino acids can be assembled with other components to meet multiple scientific needs. However, using these simple building blocks to design attractive materials remains a challenge due to the simplicity of the amino

• acids. Most of the review articles about self-assembly focus on large molecules, such as peptides and proteins. The preparation of complicated materials by self-assembly of amino acids has not yet been evaluated. Therefore, it is of great significance to systematically summarize the literature of amino

pH-driven enhancement of anti-tubercular drug loading on iron oxide nanoparticles for drug delivery in macrophages

• Karishma Berta Cotta,
• Sarika Mehra and
• Rajdip Bandyopadhyaya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1127–1139, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.84

• acid with fluorine and a piperazine ring [25]. It exhibits a zwitterionic nature, with a pKa1 and pKa2 of 6.2 and 8.5, respectively [26]. Zwitterionic molecules like amino acids and amphoteric hydroxy groups get adsorbed onto iron oxide nanoparticles predominately via electrostatic interaction [27][28

• ]. Furthermore, their interaction with IONPs may be via carboxylate groups, amine groups or by neither [27]. pH variations thus can play a key role in promoting interactions between amino acids and metal oxide surfaces [29]. NOR has also been reported to form stable complexes with Fe2+/3+ [22]. It was also

The role of deep eutectic solvents and carrageenan in synthesizing biocompatible anisotropic metal nanoparticles

• Nabojit Das,
• Akash Kumar and
• Raja Gopal Rayavarapu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 924–938, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.69

• for dissolving many species of high polarity, for example, amino acids, metal salts, glycerol, benzoic acid, citric acid, and glucose [26][76]. They are also promising in the dissolution of different polymers, such as starch, cellulose, lignin, chitin, and are also used in the pre-treatment of

Straightforward synthesis of gold nanoparticles by adding water to an engineered small dendrimer

• Sébastien Gottis,
• Régis Laurent,
• Vincent Collière and
• Anne-Marie Caminade

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1110–1118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.95

• amino acids such as ʟ-histidine, which have been used to synthesize gold nanoparticles at a higher temperature (80 °C) [49], or cysteine [50]. The compound 1 was the dendrimer chosen for the functionalization with the Girard’s T reagent. The synthesis was performed via the Staudinger reaction between

A 3D-polyphenylalanine network inside porous alumina: Synthesis and characterization of an inorganic–organic composite membrane

• Jonathan Stott and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 938–951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.78

• spectroscopic analysis provides qualitative information of the secondary structure of the grafted poly(amino acids). The measurement of the water contact angle allows conclusions regarding the hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties of the functionalized surface as well as the microstructure of the grafted

• filter holder from Millipore and sealed with silicone rings. Hydrolysis of methoxy groups and functionalization of the surface of the ALOX-membrane due a condensation reaction between hydroxyl groups on the surface and hydroxylated silanes. Synthesis of NCA-monomers from α-amino acids and triphosgene

Key for crossing the BBB with nanoparticles: the rational design

• Sonia M. Lombardo,
• Marc Schneider,
• Akif E. Türeli and
• Nazende Günday Türeli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 866–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.72

• the brain of specific molecules such as nutrients or amino acids, transport proteins are present on the luminal and basolateral side of the endothelial cells. For instance, GLUT-1, large neutral amino acid transporters (LAT), nucleoside transporters and also organic cation and anion transporters have

• crossing through AMT by increasing the positive charge on the nanoparticle surface [125]. Another investigated way to increase BBB permeation is to use cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). These peptides usually contain between five and 40 amino acids, including a large amount of basic amino-acid residues

Preparation and in vivo evaluation of glyco-gold nanoparticles carrying synthetic mycobacterial hexaarabinofuranoside

• Gennady L. Burygin,
• Polina I. Abronina,
• Nikita M. Podvalnyy,
• Sergey A. Staroverov,
• Leonid O. Kononov and
• Lev A. Dykman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 480–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.39

• yet. Indeed, the direct conjugation of amino-functionalized antigenic glycans with pre-formed GNPs has not been reported yet, to the best of our knowledge. This is despite the fact that simple amines, amino acids and peptides [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78], as well as diethylaminoethyl

Brome mosaic virus-like particles as siRNA nanocarriers for biomedical purposes

• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Pierrick G. J. Fournier,
• Danna L. Arellano,
• Ana G. Rodriguez-Hernandez,
• Rafael Vazquez-Duhalt and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 372–382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.28

• . Surprisingly, a remarkable difference was found. CCMV showed a high activation of macrophages, while BMV showed almost no immunogenic response (Figure 3C,D). There is 80% homology in the amino acids sequences of CCMV and BMV [21], however, they differ in their surface charge. The zeta potential at pH 7 was

Using gold nanoparticles to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms: toward liquid biopsy

• María Sanromán Iglesias and
• Marek Grzelczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 263–284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.20

• one or a few nucleotides leading to the addition or subtraction of amino acids in the protein. Exon or gene copy-number changes. Large duplications or deletions encompassing entire exons (protein-encoding regions in a gene) and affecting the functional domains of the protein. Structural modifications

• genetic mutations that alter single base in DNA, causing sequence modification in amino acids and malfunction of a corresponding protein. Reprinted with permission from [51], copyright 2014 Elsevier. Gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric assays in the colloidal phase. a) Cross-linking hybridization assay

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 101–123, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.10

• applications in life sciences [8]. In general, CPPs can be defined as diverse peptides with a maximal length of 30 amino acids. They are characterized by a high content of basic amino acids and an overall positive charge. CPPs are known to have a high rate of permeation into cells and are able to cross

• amino acids in the sequence of CPPs as well as their length give rise to the second type of classification. According to these properties, CPPs can be regarded as primary or secondary amphipathic or nonamphipathic peptides. Primary amphipathic peptides contain typically more than 20 amino acids and have

• sequentially hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids in their primary structure [5][21]. This group includes MPG, penetratin, CADY, pVec, and other peptides. Secondary amphipathic peptides commonly have less than 20 amino acids in their sequence and are able to take their α-helix or β-sheet conformation after

Fully amino acid-based hydrogel as potential scaffold for cell culturing and drug delivery

• Dávid Juriga,
• Evelin Sipos,
• Orsolya Hegedűs,
• Gábor Varga,
• Miklós Zrínyi,
• Krisztina S. Nagy and
• Angéla Jedlovszky-Hajdú

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2579–2593, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.249

• often limits their application. The use of poly(aspartic acid) (PASP) seems an appropriate solution for this problem due to the relatively cheap and simple synthesis of PASP. Using amino acids not only as building blocks in the polymer backbone but also as cross-linkers can improve the biocompatibility

• mainly built from only one or two types of amino acids, are biocompatible nutrients. In addition, poly(amino acid)s have enormous structural diversity and they supposedly lack immunogenicity [24][25]. In summary, the use of poly(amino acid)s has practically only one disadvantage: their synthesis is

• improve the pharmacological and therapeutic properties of various drugs [28]. By applying such microcarriers, the drug release kinetics can be controlled. Among the anionic amino acids, glutamic acid was previously used for the preparation of polymer-based microcarriers [33]. However, there are only

Bombesin receptor-targeted liposomes for enhanced delivery to lung cancer cells

• Mohammad J. Akbar,
• Pâmela C. Lukasewicz Ferreira,
• Melania Giorgetti,
• Leanne Stokes and
• Christopher J. Morris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2553–2562, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.246

• therapeutic outcomes. Experimental Materials Fmoc-protected amino acids, piperazine, HCTU, HOBt, DMF were all from AGTC (Hessle, UK). Rink Amide MBHA resin was from Novabiochem (UK). HPLC solvents and all cell culture media were from Sigma-Aldrich (Poole, UK). Lipids were from Avanti Polar Lipids (USA

• repeated to increase the peptide yield. Successful Fmoc removal and coupling of amino acids was confirmed with the Kaiser test. After successful coupling and Fmoc deprotection of the N-terminal amino acid, the resin was washed with DMF (3 × 5 mL, 1 min), then DCM (3 × 5 mL, 5 min) and the resin dried under

Targeted therapeutic effect against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with a CuFe₂O₄/silica/cisplatin nanocomposite formulation

• B. Rabindran Jermy,
• Vijaya Ravinayagam,
• Widyan A. Alamoudi,
• Dana Almohazey,
• Hatim Dafalla,
• Lina Hussain Allehaibi,
• Abdulhadi Baykal,
• Muhammet S. Toprak and
• Thirunavukkarasu Somanathan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2217–2228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.214

• (100× Gibco, Life Technologies), and 1% MEM non-essential amino acids (NEAA) (100× Gibco, Life Technologies). The cells were kept in a humidified incubator at 37 °C with 5% CO2. For the experimental setup, MCF-7 cells were seeded in a 96-well plate at a density of 20,000 cells/well. On the next day