LYSOZYME + METAL ATOM

这个子项目是许多利用资源的研究子项目之一 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目的主要支持 而子项目的主要调查员可能是由其他来源提供的， 包括其它NIH来源。 列出的子项目总成本可能 代表子项目使用的中心基础设施的估计数量， 而不是由NCRR赠款提供给子项目或子项目工作人员的直接资金。 纳米材料在科学和应用领域都发挥着非常重要的作用。虽然纳米科学已经取得了很大的进展，但纳米材料生长的研究仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在这个项目中，我们使用溶菌酶单晶来减缓金属纳米颗粒的生长，从而在分子水平上研究它们的生长动力学。选择溶菌酶进行本项目是因为它不仅可以容易地结晶，而且在位置15处具有独特的表面暴露的His作为金属离子的特异性结合位点。我们的初步结果表明，溶菌酶晶体可以减缓反应，因此，我们可以得到溶菌酶与金属离子之间的相互作用的X射线晶体学快照。借助其他技术（如透射电子显微镜），我们将阐明金属纳米颗粒在溶菌酶晶体中生长的反应机理，这可能对生物纳米杂化材料的制备、生物矿化、催化、光学和等离子体器件以及传感器具有重要意义。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Nano-scaled materials play a very important role in both scientific and applied areas. Though much progress has been made in nano-science, the investigation of nanomaterials' growth is still great challenge. In this project, we are using single crystals of lysozyme to slow down the growth of metal nanoparticles and thus study their growth kinetics at the molecular level. Lysozyme was chosen for this project because it not only can be readily crystallized, but also has a unique surface-exposed His at position 15 as a specific binding site for metal ions. Our primary results showed that lysozyme crystals could slow the reaction and thus we could get the snapshots of the interactions between lysozyme and the metal ions by X-ray crystallography. With the help of other techniques (such as transmission electron microscopy), we will elucidate the reaction mechanism of metal nanoparticles' growth within the lysozyme crystals, which might have implications in fabrication of bio-nano hybrid materials, biomineralization, catalysis, optical and plasmonic devices, and sensing.