The product of the combination of nanoparticles and enzymes forms a molecular hybrid that combines the properties of enzymes and nanoparticles. Typically, such complexes are prepared with the aim of altering the physicochemical properties of the enzyme. Relying on rich experience in nanoparticle modification, CD Bioparticles provides customers with comprehensive enzyme-nanoparticle conjugation strategies. We specialize in applying advanced conjugation techniques to custom develop biomolecules with diverse polymer architectures, including polymer chains, polymer topologies, and conjugated structures. Greater scalability and lower production costs are possible with our nanoparticles bioconjugation services.
Enzymes are known for their high specificity, making them efficient biocatalysts that are environmentally friendly. In clinical applications, many proteins face solubility and stability challenges. This makes these proteins easily degraded in the body and lose their function. In addition, proteins also have disadvantages such as short existence time in vivo and easy triggering of immunogenic reactions. Since enzymes are mainly composed of proteins, their applications are limited by the properties of proteins. In addition, enzymes are very sensitive to non-physiological conditions such as extreme pH, high temperature, or detergents, which further limits their applications. To increase the stability of enzymes, a common strategy is to covalently bind enzymes to inert, biocompatible, water-soluble nanoparticles. Many classes of polymeric nanoparticles have been studied, including polyethylene glycol (PEG), hyaluronic acid, dextran, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), hydroxyethyl starch (HES), Polyethyleneimine (PEI) and polyphosphate. These polymers provide stability to enzymes by shielding and protecting them from denaturing conditions.
Figure 1. Enzymatic bioconjugation of nanoparticles.(Walper SA, et al.; 2015)
Currently, the most commonly used polymer is polyethylene glycol approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Polyethylene glycol can form a water layer around the enzyme, making the enzyme soluble and active in polar organic solvents. In addition, the steric hindrance of PEG can prevent the dissociation and self-polymerization of the enzyme. In enzyme-polymer conjugates, the polymer reacts with specific amino acids on the enzyme through its functional groups. It is especially important that the polymer has electrophilic functional groups that can react with nucleophilic amino acids such as cysteine, lysine, arginine, serine, threonine, or tyrosine. Under physiological conditions, enzymes form covalent bonds with polymers, resulting in enzyme-polymer conjugates. This enzyme-polymer conjugate can enhance the industrial application potential of enzymes. For example, polymer linkages can better protect enzymes from degradation and thus have a longer half-life in the body than native enzymes. In addition, immobilizing enzymes on nanoparticles also demonstrates a promising strategy for enzyme attachment. In addition to enhancing enzyme activity and stability, this also opens up new vistas for biocatalysis.
The formation of nanoscale biocatalysts can be achieved by the immobilization of enzymes, using traditional methods such as covalent coupling or embedding to generate hybrid units containing individual enzymes, or by combining them with nanocarriers. The main advantage of nanoscale biocatalysts lies in their high enzyme loading per unit weight, which enables them to exhibit excellent catalytic performance. We provide customized nanoscale biocatalyst development services, including single-enzyme nanogels (SENs), polymeric micelles, dendritic nanoparticles, giant amphiphiles, reverse micelles, polyion complex vesicles, and MOF-enzyme nano hybrids, etc.
Compared with macroscopic structures, micron-scale polymers usually exhibit lower diffusion problems and better scale-up capabilities, making them one of the best choices in biocatalytic bioreactor design. At CD Bioparticles, we specialize in the polymeric hydrogels, layer-by-layer assembled enzyme microparticles, cross-linked polymers, and enzyme hybrids prepared by electrospun polymeric fibers. Our microstructured enzyme-polymer assembly services include: custom enzyme hydrogel micromixtures, custom enzyme-polymer microhybrids, custom cross-linked enzyme-polymer conjugates, and custom enzyme-polymer fiber hybrids.
CD Bioparticles also focuses on applying macrostructured polymers to enzyme immobilization platforms to form monolithic and continuous films. The size of these materials endows the blends with superior mechanical properties, extending their range of applications. Our macrostructural enzyme-polymer assembly services include: customization of polymer-enzyme hybrids and enzyme-polymer thin films.
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