Nano trap for microbes and toxins
A group of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA) has developed a strategy for creating ultra-thin self-assembling plates that bind bacteria, viruses and toxins like duct tape for flies.
Numerous pathogens, from the influenza virus to the cholera pathogen, bind to cells by interacting with sugars on their surface. This prompted the authors to use specific carbohydrates to bind pathogens on a surface that mimics the cell wall, and thus inactivate them.
The nanofilm is a layer of peptoids – non-protein molecules that have similar properties to them. It is interspersed with rows of carbohydrates. The film is assembled independently in a liquid medium.
The assembly process is controlled by information that is programmed by the creators. The advantage of nanofilm is its modularity: depending on the purpose, you can combine any carbohydrates and arrange them in a certain sequence.
To test the effectiveness, a fluorescent dye was introduced into the nanofilm structure. Another dye was placed on the target protein. The carbohydrate-protein binding reaction was accompanied by a color change. Peptoid nanofilms successfully bound various lectins and the toxin of the causative agent of bacterial dysentery Shigella dysenteriae.
A model of a nanofilm consisting of peptoids (gray) and globotriose trisaccharide, a Shiga toxin ligand (orange), which "caught" its molecule (a large structure of different colors in the upper right corner). Source: Berkeley Lab.
The peptoid platform is stronger than the cell wall, it is easy to create and inexpensive. This makes it possible to use nanofilm over a large area, for example, during the testing of biological agents by military personnel or the elimination of environmental contamination by emergency services. In addition, components that will catch viruses can be included in the nasal spray. A larger–scale application is also possible - to combat the Ebola virus or E. coli during outbreaks.
Article by A. Battigelli et al. Glycosylated Peptoid Nanosheets as a Multivalent Scaffold for Protein Recognition is published in the journal ACS Nano.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Berkeley Lab materials: Scientists Develop Sugar-Coated Nanosheets to Selectively Target Pathogens.