Abstract (eng)
Silica nanoparticles are non-toxic and of tuneable biodegradability depending on their morphology and porosity. The biomimetic synthesis of silica nanoparticles is inspired by the shell-forming processes of organisms such as sponges and diatoms and proceeds under mild conditions and at neutral pH. Suitable catalysts are certain polyamines and peptides. In the first part of this work, the silica-precipitating R5 peptide from the diatom C. fusiformis was conjugated with two different polyphenols, galangin and quercetin, as model natural compounds. This required the introduction of a suitably functionalized linker, which was placed at the 7-O position of galangin and quercetin. Galangin was modified with a carboxylic acid linker in a one-step reaction; a four-step synthetic strategy was used to introduce a similar carboxylic acid linker on quercetin. Spherical silica particles were precipitated from both conjugates using a previously established protocol for unmodified R5 peptide. To observe the particles by (confocal) fluorescence microscopy, galangin-R5 silica particles were labelled with a fluorescein-derived silane compound, whereas quercetin-R5 particles were monitored based on the intrinsic quercetin fluorescence. Confocal fluorescence microscopy experiments with HT-29 human colorectal cancer cells showed that the quercetin-R5 silica particles, but not the galangin-R5 silica particles are efficiently taken up into the cells and localize in their nuclei within 3 hours of exposure. The uptake mechanism was shown to be an active, energy-dependent process different from micropinocytosis. At the investigated concentration of 70 µM conjugate, no toxic effects were observed. Non-toxic silica particles not only offer the possibility to encapsulate small molecules, but also entire proteins and membrane structures.
Integral membrane proteins are ubiquitous in nature and present an important class of drug targets. Their investigation is complicated by the difficulty to stabilize them in solution, requiring the use of detergents or solubility tags. Nanodiscs, membrane lipid bicelles surrounded by the membrane scaffold protein (MSP), were developed to enable such stabilization in a defined membrane environment. In the work presented here, new variants of MSP were designed by genetically fusing the silica-precipitating R5 peptide to its N- and/or C-terminus. In this way, plasmids for the expression of three new variants, R5-MSP, MSP-R5, and R5-MSP-R5 were obtained, including a removable His6-tag for purification. The R5-MSP-R5 construct could be successfully expressed and purified. Analogous to the unmodified MSP, the R5-MSP-R5 protein could be used for the formation of nanodiscs with the membrane phospholipid DOPC, which were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). As expected, the R5-MSP-R5 nanodiscs, but not the MSP nanodiscs, induced silica particle formation in a solution of silicic acid. The particles were then characterized by TEM and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Both techniques revealed fibrous structures, corresponding to stacks of nanodiscs, which are covered by a layer of silica. This is a completely new material which might be equipped with various properties by embedding different molecules in the silica-covered nanodiscs. An attempt to embed the E. coli diacyl glycerol kinase (DGK) inside the nanodiscs did not succeed, therefore, a different strategy was devised to create silica-encapsulated DGK.
The amphiphilic BP-1 peptide was developed to stabilize membrane proteins in solution by direct interaction with the detergent-like amphiphilic peptide. In this work, four new peptide constructs, based on BP-1, were designed, synthesized and purified. As expected, the new variants, in contrast to the unmodified BP-1 peptide, induced the formation of silica particles of different morphologies from a solution of silicic acid. A stabilizing effect on the membrane protein diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) could not be observed when adding the peptides only. However, it was possible to encapsulate the DGK protein into spherical silica particles, when using the modified BP-1 constructs as catalysts. The BP-1-R5 peptide proved significantly more effective in this than the R5 peptide alone. The encapsulated DGK showed reduced kinase activity towards its hydrophobic substrate dioleylglycerol, most likely due to the limited diffusion of dioleylglycerol into the silica particles. However, DGK stability in BP-1-R5 silica particles was significantly increased as demonstrated in assays against Pronase E, simulated gastric fluid (SGF), and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF). Thus, BP-1-R5 proved to be a new tool to encapsulate functional membrane proteins in silica. These functionalised silica particles could be used to equip sensors or bioreactors.