The method of thin film preparation known as layer-by-layer assembly is of growing interest for current and envisioned developments in bionanotechnology. Here, cysteine-containing 32mer peptides have been designed, synthesized, purified, and used to prepare polypeptide films. A range of methods-quartz crystal microbalance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy...

The application of nanotechnology to medicine is providing new approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Ultrasensitive imaging for early detection of cancers and efficient delivery of therapeutics to malignant tumors are two primary goals in cancer bionanotechnology; however, the development of nontoxic, functional nanoparticles that can successfully home to tumors presents some ...

BACKGROUND Self-assembling protein nanotubes (PNTs) are an intriguing alternative to carbon nanotubes for applications in bionanotechnology, in part due to greater inherent biocompatibility. The type IV pilus of the gram negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a protein-based fibre composed of a single subunit, the type IV pilin. Engineered pilin monomers from P. aeruginosa strain K122-4 (Δ...

F-specific filamentous phage of Escherichia coli (Ff: f1, M13, or fd) are long thin filaments (860 nm × 6 nm). They have been a major workhorse in display technologies and bionanotechnology; however, some applications are limited by the high length-to-diameter ratio of Ff. Furthermore, use of functionalized Ff outside of laboratory containment is in part hampered by the fact that they are genet...

SUMMARY Plasmid R124 was first described in 1972 as being a new member of incompatibility group IncFIV, yet early physical investigations of plasmid DNA showed that this type of classification was more complex than first imagined. Throughout the history of the study of this plasmid, there have been many unexpected observations. Therefore, in this review, we describe the history of our understan...

Development of reliable and low-cost requirement for large-scale eco-friendly biogenic synthesis of metallic nanoparticles is an important step for industrial applications of bionanotechnology. In the present study, the mycosynthesis of spherical nano-Ag (12.7 ± 0.8 nm) from extracellular filtrate of local endophytic T. harzianum SYA.F4 strain which have interested mixed bioactive metabolites (...

Virus-like particles are very interesting tools for application in bionanotechnology, due to their monodisperse features and biocompatibility. In particular, the cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) capsid has been studied extensively as it can be assembled and disassembled reversibly, facilitating cargo encapsulation. CCMV is, however, only stable at physiological conditions when its endogenou...

An animal's hard tissue is mainly composed of crystalline calcium phosphate. In vitro, small changes in the reaction conditions affect the species of calcium phosphate formed, whereas, in vivo, distinct types of crystalline calcium phosphate are formed in a well-controlled spatiotemporal-dependent manner. A variety of proteins are involved in hard-tissue formation; however, the mechanisms by wh...

Amyloid fibrils are a class of insoluble protein nanofibers that are formed via the self-assembly of a wide range of peptides and proteins. They are increasingly exploited for a broad range of applications in bionanotechnology, such as biosensing and drug delivery, as nanowires, hydrogels, and thin films. Amyloid fibrils have been prepared from many proteins, but there has been no definitive ch...

BACKGROUND Membrane proteins (MPs) populate 20-30% of genomes sequenced to date and hold potential as therapeutic targets as well as for practical applications in bionanotechnology. However, MP toxicity and low yields in normally robust expression hosts such as E. coli has curtailed progress in our understanding of their structure and function. RESULTS Using the seven transmembrane segments H...