Self-assembling proteins for bio-inspired nano-electronics
Résumé
Bioelectronics is a fast growing research field aiming at mastering the interfacing of biological systems with electronic devices. A highly demanding challenge consists in converting biological signals into an electrical one that can be used by conventional electronic devices. In this context, amyloid fibers, i.e. protein nanowires, seem to be good candidates to tackle this challenge as they present many advantages over currently proposed organic (semi)conducting materials. Indeed, they can allow for ionic, protonic, and electronic conductivity. Moreover, they are easy to synthesize, are tunable by design, resulting in mesoscopic functional bionanowires with high stability and mechanical properties. They are moreover biocompatible, an important prerequisite when interfacing the living with electronics.
This study focuses mostly on a synthetic redox biofilm made from a metalloprotein–prion domain chimera nanowires. It is known that the HET-s prion domain (218-289), which is found in the fungus Podospora anserina, used as a mean of recognizing its pairs, is able to transfer protons through its nanowires at high relative humidity (e.g. RH>ca.70%). To allow for electronic transport properties at low relative humidity [1], we envision to functionalize the protein HET with a metalloprotein, rubredoxin (Rd). This led to the resulting chimeric protein called Rd-HET. The prion domain self-assembles into stable and highly organized fibers and provides a suitable arrangement of redox metal centers in Rd to permit electron transport (Figure 1). These bionanowires also can be used as electron transfer mediator for enzymatic electrodes due to the presence of redox centers [2]. The applied chimeric protein strategy resulted in proof of concept demonstrations that one can fine-tune both the electronic and protonic transport features of bionanowires. Our work opens large avenues for further advanced “fusion” of highly seek features, bringing a step closer to reality the advent of a true bio-interfacing of the living with electronics.
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