title: Laying out ground rules for protein-aided nanofabrication: ZnO synthesis at 70°C as a case study.
abstract: Designer proteins that incorporate solid-binding peptides hold promise to control the nucleation, growth, morphology, and assembly of inorganic phases under mild conditions of temperature and pressure. However, protein-aided nanofabrication remains more art than science and some materials can only be synthesized at temperatures that cause most mesophilic proteins to unfold. Using zinc oxide (ZnO) synthesis at 70°C as case study, we show here that seemingly unimportant variables, such as the carry-over concentration of Tris buffer and the "empty" host protein scaffold can exert a significant influence on materials morphology. We also show that, once well-controlled conditions are established, thermodynamic predictions and adsorption isotherms are powerful tools to understand how various ZnO-binding sequence inserted within the thermostable framework of Escherichia coli thioredoxin A (TrxA) affect inorganic morphogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1750, USA.
authors.forename: Sathana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitayaporn
authors.forename: Weibin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Daniel T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baneyx
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D053758:Nanoparticles; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D013879:Thioredoxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C517609:TrxA protein, E coli; D013879:Thioredoxins; D015034:Zinc Oxide