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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...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2020
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7460482 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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