The competing influence of surface roughness, hydrophobicity, and electrostatics on protein dynamics on a self-assembled monolayer.

Surface morphology, in addition to hydrophobic and electrostatic effects, can alter how proteins interact with solid surfaces. Understanding the heterogeneous dynamics of protein adsorption on surfaces with varying roughness is experimentally challenging. In this work, we use single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to study the adsorption of α-lactalbumin protein on the glass substrate covered with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) with varying surface concentrations. Two distinct interaction mechanisms are observed: localized adsorption/desorption and continuous-time random walk (CTRW). We investigate the origin of these two populations by simultaneous single-molecule imaging of substrates with both bare glass and SAM-covered regions. SAM-covered areas of substrates are found to promote CTRW, whereas glass surfaces promote localized motion. Contact angle measurements and atomic force microscopy imaging show that increasing SAM concentration results in both increasing hydrophobicity and surface roughness. These properties lead to two opposing effects: increasing hydrophobicity promotes longer protein flights, but increasing surface roughness suppresses protein dynamics resulting in shorter residence times. Our studies suggest that controlling hydrophobicity and roughness, in addition to electrostatics, as independent parameters could provide a means to tune desirable or undesirable protein interactions with surfaces.

Single-Molecule Dynamics Reflect IgG Conformational Changes Associated with Ion-Exchange Chromatography.

Conformational changes of antibodies and other biologics can decrease the effectiveness of pharmaceutical separations. Hence, a detailed mechanistic picture of antibody-stationary phase interactions that occur during ion-exchange chromatography (IEX) can provide critical insights. This work examines antibody conformational changes and how they perturb antibody motion and affect ensemble elution profiles. We combine IEX, three-dimensional single-protein tracking, and circular dichroism spectroscopy to investigate conformational changes of a model antibody, immunoglobulin G (IgG), as it interacts with the stationary phase as a function of salt conditions. The results indicate that the absence of salt enhances electrostatic attraction between IgG and the stationary phase, promotes surface-induced unfolding, slows IgG motion, and decreases elution from the column. Our results reveal previously unreported details of antibody structural changes and their influence on macroscale elution profiles.

Untying the Gordian KNOT: Unbiased Single Particle Tracking Using Point Clouds and Adaptive Motion Analysis.

Achieving mechanistic understanding of transport in complex environments such as inside cells or at polymer interfaces is challenging. We need better ways to image transport in 3-D and better single particle tracking algorithms to determine transport that are not systemically biased toward any classical motion model. Here we present an unbiased single particle tracking algorithm: Knowing Nothing Outside Tracking (KNOT). KNOT uses point clouds provided by iterative deconvolution to educate individual particle localizations and link particle positions between frames to achieve 2-D and 3-D tracking. Information from prior point clouds fuels an independent adaptive motion model for each particle to avoid global models that could introduce biases. KNOT competes with or surpasses other 2-D methods from the 2012 particle tracking challenge while accurately tracking adsorption dynamics of proteins on polymer surfaces and early endosome transport in live cells in 3-D. We apply KNOT to study 3-D endosome transport to reveal new physical insight into locally directed and diffusive transport in live cells. Our analysis demonstrates better accuracy in classifying local motion and its direction compared to previous methods, revealing intricate intracellular transport heterogeneities.

Imaging Switchable Protein Interactions with an Active Porous Polymer Support.

Mechanistic details about how local physicochemistry of porous interfaces drives protein transport mechanisms are necessary to optimize biomaterial applications. Cross-linked hydrogels made of stimuli-responsive polymers have potential for active protein capture and release through tunable steric and chemical transformations. Simultaneous monitoring of dynamic changes in both protein transport and interfacial polymer structure is an experimental challenge. We use single-particle tracking (SPT) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy Super-resolution Optical Fluctuation Imaging (fcsSOFI) to relate the switchable changes in size and structure of a pH-responsive hydrogel to the interfacial transport properties of a model protein, lysozyme. SPT analysis reveals the reversible switching of protein transport dynamics in and at the hydrogel polymer in response to pH changes. fcsSOFI allows us to relate tunable heterogeneity of the hydrogels and pores to reversible changes in the distribution of confined diffusion and adsorption/desorption. We find that physicochemical heterogeneity of the hydrogels dictates protein confinement and desorption dynamics, particularly at pH conditions in which the hydrogels are swollen.