Investigation of the interaction between protein coronas and biomolecules

胶体纳米颗粒周围的蛋白质层被称为“蛋白质冠层”，当它们被带入生命系统时就会形成。为了纳米颗粒的安全开发，需要阐明蛋白质电晕形成的机理。本研究分别以碳纳米管和带电均多肽作为纳米粒子和蛋白质的模型，研究了蛋白质电晕的形成机理。研究发现，多聚精氨酸与碳纳米管紧密结合，这表明蛋白质中的精氨酸残基在碳纳米管的蛋白质电晕形成过程中起着关键作用。这些机理上的见解也可以应用于其他具有芳香族部分的纳米颗粒。

The protein layners around colloidal nanoparticles, known as "protein corona", are formed when they are taken in living systems. The mechanism of the protein corona formation should be elucidated for safe development of the nanoparticles. In this study, protein corona formation mechanism was investigated using carbon nanotubes and charged homopolypeptides as models of nanoparticles and proteins, respectively. It was found that polyarginines were strongly bound to the carbon nanotubes, which suggests that arginine residues of proteins have a critical role in the protein corona formation of carbon nanotubes. The mechanistic insights can also be applied to other nanoparticles with aromatic moieties.