title: Size dependent chaperon properties of gold nanoparticles.
abstract: Citrate synthase is a heat labile enzyme showing a loss of activity even in response to a modest shift of temperature (35 degrees-45 degrees C). Gold nanoparticle is shown to prevent the thermal aggregation of this enzyme. The chaperon like activity of the nanoparticle diminishes if the particle size is reduced from 40 nm to 20 nm keeping the atomic concentration of gold constant. This implies that the effect is not merely due to enhanced surface area offered by the nano-surfaces. The effect is reversible as the protein separated out from nanoparticles behaves similar to control. The observed coupling between chaperon activity of the nanoparticle and its cluster forming ability is illustrated in terms of a thermal cage model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700019, India.
authors.forename: Santiswarup
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singha
authors.forename: Himadri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Anjan Kr
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dasgupta
mesh_terms: D002950:Citrate (si)-Synthase / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; D006046:Gold; D002950:Citrate (si)-Synthase