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Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals

Enzymes are biological catalysts that are comprised of small-molecule, metal, or cluster catalysts augmented by biopolymeric scaffolds. It is conceivable that early in chemical evolution, ancestral enzymes opted for simpler, easier to assemble scaffolds. Herein, we describe such possible protoenzyme...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mamajanov, Irena, Caudan, Melina, Jia, Tony Z.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7460482/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32823487
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life10080150
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author Mamajanov, Irena
Caudan, Melina
Jia, Tony Z.
author_facet Mamajanov, Irena
Caudan, Melina
Jia, Tony Z.
author_sort Mamajanov, Irena
collection PubMed
description Enzymes are biological catalysts that are comprised of small-molecule, metal, or cluster catalysts augmented by biopolymeric scaffolds. It is conceivable that early in chemical evolution, ancestral enzymes opted for simpler, easier to assemble scaffolds. Herein, we describe such possible protoenzymes: hyperbranched polymer-scaffolded metal-sulfide nanocrystals. Hyperbranched polyethyleneimine (HyPEI) and glycerol citrate polymer-supported ZnS nanocrystals (NCs) are formed in a simple process. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses of HyPEI-supported NCs reveal spherical particles with an average size of 10 nm that undergo only a modest aggregation over a 14-day incubation. The polymer-supported ZnS NCs are shown to possess a high photocatalytic activity in an eosin B photodegradation assay, making them an attractive model for the study of the origin of life under the “Zn world” theory dominated by a photocatalytic proto-metabolic redox reaction network. The catalyst, however, could be easily adapted to apply broadly to different protoenzymatic systems.
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spelling pubmed-74604822020-09-03 Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals Mamajanov, Irena Caudan, Melina Jia, Tony Z. Life (Basel) Article Enzymes are biological catalysts that are comprised of small-molecule, metal, or cluster catalysts augmented by biopolymeric scaffolds. It is conceivable that early in chemical evolution, ancestral enzymes opted for simpler, easier to assemble scaffolds. Herein, we describe such possible protoenzymes: hyperbranched polymer-scaffolded metal-sulfide nanocrystals. Hyperbranched polyethyleneimine (HyPEI) and glycerol citrate polymer-supported ZnS nanocrystals (NCs) are formed in a simple process. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses of HyPEI-supported NCs reveal spherical particles with an average size of 10 nm that undergo only a modest aggregation over a 14-day incubation. The polymer-supported ZnS NCs are shown to possess a high photocatalytic activity in an eosin B photodegradation assay, making them an attractive model for the study of the origin of life under the “Zn world” theory dominated by a photocatalytic proto-metabolic redox reaction network. The catalyst, however, could be easily adapted to apply broadly to different protoenzymatic systems. MDPI 2020-08-13 /pmc/articles/PMC7460482/ /pubmed/32823487 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life10080150 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Mamajanov, Irena
Caudan, Melina
Jia, Tony Z.
Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals
title Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals
title_full Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals
title_fullStr Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals
title_full_unstemmed Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals
title_short Protoenzymes: The Case of Hyperbranched Polymer-Scaffolded ZnS Nanocrystals
title_sort protoenzymes: the case of hyperbranched polymer-scaffolded zns nanocrystals
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7460482/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32823487
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life10080150
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