title: Biomimetic chemosensor: designing peptide recognition elements for surface functionalization of carbon nanotube field effect transistors.
abstract: Single-wall carbon nanotube field effect transistors (SWNT-FETs) are ideal candidates for fabricating sensors due to their unique electronic properties and have been widely investigated for chemical and biological sensing applications. The lack of selectivity of SWNT-FETs has prompted extensive research on developing ligands that exhibit specific binding as selective surface coating for SWNTs. Herein we describe the rational design of a peptide recognition element (PRE) that is capable of noncovalently attaching to SWNTs as well as binding to trinitrotoluene (TNT). The PRE contains two domains, a TNT binding domain derived from the binding pocket of the honeybee odor binding protein ASP1, and a SWNT binding domain previously identified from the phage peptide display library. The PRE structure in the presence of SWNT was investigated by performing classical all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Both computational and experimental analyses demonstrate that the peptide retains two functional domains for SWNT and TNT binding. The binding motif of the peptide to SWNT and to TNT was revealed from interaction energy calculations by molecular dynamics simulations. The potential application of the peptide for the detection of TNT is theoretically predicted and experimentally validated using a SWNT-FET sensor functionalized with a designer PRE. Results from this study demonstrate the creation of chemosensors using designed PRE as selective surface coatings for targeted analytes.
authors.affiliation: Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433, USA.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kuang
authors.forename: Sang N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Wendy J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Crookes-Goodson
authors.forename: Barry L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Farmer
authors.forename: Rajesh R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Naik
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003198:Computer Simulation; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013499:Surface Properties; D014173:Transistors, Electronic; D014303:Trinitrotoluene / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D014303:Trinitrotoluene