Tuning Electrostatic Gating of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes by Controlling Protein Orientation in Biosensing Devices
Journal article, 2021

The ability to detect proteins through gating conductance by their unique surface electrostatic signature holds great potential for improving biosensing sensitivity and precision. Two challenges are: (1) defining the electrostatic surface of the incoming ligand protein presented to the conductive surface; (2) bridging the Debye gap to generate a measurable response. Herein, we report the construction of nanoscale protein-based sensing devices designed to present proteins in defined orientations; this allowed us to control the local electrostatic surface presented within the Debye length, and thus modulate the conductance gating effect upon binding incoming protein targets. Using a β-lactamase binding protein (BLIP2) as the capture protein attached to carbon nanotube field effect transistors in different defined orientations. Device conductance had influence on binding TEM-1, an important β-lactamase involved in antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Conductance increased or decreased depending on TEM-1 presenting either negative or positive local charge patches, demonstrating that local electrostatic properties, as opposed to protein net charge, act as the key driving force for electrostatic gating. This, in turn can, improve our ability to tune the gating of electrical biosensors toward optimized detection, including for AMR as outlined herein.

protein orientation

Biosensors

carbon nanotubes

protein engineering

antimicrobial resistance

Author

Xinzhao Xu

Queen Mary University of London

Benjamin J. Bowen

College of Biomedical and Life Sciences

Rebecca E.A. Gwyther

College of Biomedical and Life Sciences

Mark Freeley

Queen Mary University of London

Bella Grigorenko

Russian Academy of Sciences

Moscow State University

Alexander V. Nemukhin

Russian Academy of Sciences

Moscow State University

Johnas Eklöf

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Kasper Moth-Poulsen

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

D. Dafydd Jones

College of Biomedical and Life Sciences

Matteo Palma

Queen Mary University of London

Angewandte Chemie - International Edition

1433-7851 (ISSN) 1521-3773 (eISSN)

Vol. 60 37 20184-20189

Subject Categories

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Other Basic Medicine

Biophysics

DOI

10.1002/anie.202104044

PubMed

34270157

More information

Latest update

4/5/2022 5