Genipin-mediated subunit-subunit crosslinking of ferritin nanocages: Structure, properties, and its application for food bioactive compound sealing

• Published in: Food chemistry 2023-06, Vol.411, p.135437-135437, Article 135437
• Main Authors: Chen, Hai, Tan, Xiaoyi, Hu, Mengji, Xie, Jiang, Han, Xueer, Yu, Yong, Zhu, Hankun, Wang, Hongxia, Zhang, Yuhao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cargo sealing; Cross-Linking Reagents - chemistry; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Ferritin nanocages; Ferritins; Genipin; Intramolecular cross-linking; Iridoids - chemistry; Subunit-subunit interfaces
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.135437

[Display omitted] •Genipin-mediated intramolecular-crosslink can be well controlled by experiment condition.•Genipin-mediated modification has subtle effect on the overall structure of ferritin.•The covalent crosslinking can tight adjacent subunits together and inhibit its disassociation.•The intramolecular-crosslinked ferritin can realize cargo sealing under acidic condition. Ferritin proteins are promising nano-carriers for bioactive compound delivery. However, the disassembly properties under acidic/alkaline conditions pose risks of cargo leakage. Herein, genipin-mediated chemical crosslinking method was provided as an alternative and effective strategy to construct robust ferritin nanocarrier through controlled-intramolecular conjugation. As indicated by SDS-/Native- PAGE, the crosslinking degree gradually increased with incubating time prolonging. CD results showed that the cross-linking would decrease α-helix content from 78.4 % to 52.7 % upon 6 h incubation. However, TEM images showed that the genipin-modification has subtle influence on its shell-like structure. Remarkably, the cross-linking can be well controlled by intramolecular subunit-subunit conjugation rather than intermolecular conjugation, giving an excellent monodispersity. Importantly, the covalent cross-linking can tight neighboring subunits and inhibit its disassociation, finally inhibiting the leakage of encapsulated-cargos from ferritin cavity under acidic environments. Such findings suggested that the genipin-mediated cross-linking strategy can fabricate robust nano-carriers for bioactive compound delivery.