Gold nanoparticle cytochrome c complexes: The effect of nanoparticle ligand charge on protein structure

We report the effect of nanoparticle ligand charge on the structure of a covalently, site-specifically linked protein. An nanoparticles with positive, negative, and neutral ligands were appended to a specific cysteine, C102, of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome c. Conjugates were purified by HPLC or gel electrophoresis. Circular dichroism spectroscopy shows that changing the nanoparticle ligand dramatically influences the attached cytochrome c structure. The protein retains its structure with neutral ligands but denatures in the presence of charged species. This is rationalized by the electrostatic interaction of amino acids in the local vicinity of C102 with the endgroups of the ligand.