Nanoscale Film Formation of Recombinant Azurin Variants with Various Cysteine Residues on Gold Substrate for Bioelectronic Device

Abstract

Nanoscale film fabrication of recombinant azurin variants with various cysteine residues on gold substrate was developed without any surface modification for bioelectronic device. We have modified azurin with different number of cysteine residues at its amino acid chain based on site-directed mutagenesis. The resulting recombinant protein, azurin, retained its original redox property in the same manner as native azurin. Recombinant azurin was immobilized on Au substrate by strong affinity between thiol of cysteine and gold. The orientations of recombinant azurin with various cystein residues immobilized on the Au substrate were analyzed by fluorescence microscope, scanning tunneling microscope, and surface plasmon resonance. Our data revealed that binding activity of recombinant azurin with three cysteine residues on the Au substrate significantly increased in comparison to single residue azurin. Immobilization method of highly oriented recombinant azurin based on cysteine-modification could be useful for the nanoscale film fabrication of nanobiochip.