We have developed armored single-enzyme nanoparticles (SENs), which dramatically stabilize a protease (a-chymotrypsin, CT) by surrounding each enzyme molecule with a porous composite organic/inorganic shell of less than a few nanometers thick. The armored enzymes show no decrease in CT activity at 30°C for four days while free CT activity is rapidly reduced by orders of magnitude. The armored shell around CT is sufficiently thin and porous that it does not place any serious mass-transfer limitation on substrates. This unique approach will have a great impact in using enzymes in various fields.
Revised: March 2, 2004 |
Published: September 1, 2003
Citation
Kim J., and J.W. Grate. 2003.Single-Enzyme Nanoparticles Armored by a Nanometer-Scale Organic/Inorganic Network.Nano Letters 3, no. 9:1219-1222.PNNL-SA-38470.