REVIEW: Nanohybrid Structures Based on Plasmonic or Fluorescent Nanoparticles and Retinal-Containing Proteins

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V. A. Oleinikov^1,2,a*, D. O. Solovyeva^1,2, and S. Yu. Zaitsev^1,3

¹Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia

²Institute of Engineering Physics for Biomedicine, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, 115409 Moscow, Russia

³L. K. Ernst Federal Science Center for Animal Husbandry, 142132 Dubrovitsy, Moscow Region, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received September 9, 2019; Revised October 8, 2019; Accepted October 11, 2019

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Rhodopsins are light-sensitive membrane proteins enabling transmembrane charge separation (proton pump) on absorption of a light quantum. Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a transmembrane protein from halophilic bacteria that belongs to the rhodopsin family. Potential applications of BR are considered so promising that the number of studies devoted to the use of BR itself, its mutant variants, as well as hybrid materials containing BR in various areas grows steadily. Formation of hybrid structures combining BR with nanoparticles is an essential step in promotion of BR-based devices. However, rapid progress, continuous emergence of new data, as well as challenges of analyzing the entire data require regular reviews of the achievements in this area. This review is devoted to the issues of formation of materials based on hybrids of BR with fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots) and with noble metal (silver, gold) plasmonic nanoparticles. Recent data on formation of thin (mono-) and thick (multi-) layers from materials containing BR and BR/nanoparticle hybrids are presented.

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KEY WORDS: bacteriorhodopsin, quantum dots, plasmon nanoparticles, Raman scattering, SERS, hybrid structures, supramolecular systems

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297920140102

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