Significant Role of Protein in Fungal Biomineralization of Copper Carbonate Nanoparticles. Liu et al

In this study, we have elucidated the association and involvement of fungal proteins in the formation of biogenic copper carbonate nanoparticles (CuNPs) using a carbonate-enriched biomass-free ureolytic fungal culture supernatant. Proteomic analysis was conducted which identified the major proteins present in the biomass-free spent culture supernatant. Of the proteins identified, triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) exhibited a strong affinity to the CuNPs, and this was cloned, expressed and purified, to study in detail the impact of TPI on CuNP formation. The combined use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) confirmed that TPI played an important role in controlling the morphology and structure of the nanomaterials. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was applied to examine conformational changes of the proteins to further clarify the interaction mechanisms with CuNPs during biomineralization.