A liposome-actuated enzyme system and its capability as a self-biomineralized silica nanoreactor

Abstract

Controlling the functions that arise in biomolecular nanostructures is a major challenge in biotechnology developments. Liposomes have been used to encapsulate a wide variety of enzymes, but the emergent properties of systems in which enzymatic activity is controlled by surrounding liposomes have not been explored. Here, we report an assembly to actuate the reactivity of ureases through the change of the liposome permeability by means of temperature control. Using this approach, externally controlled enzyme inhibition and activation are successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, deposited on a sacrificial mesoporous thin film, this biosystem controllably rebuilds its surface to generate a 3D silica shell, which provides an additional demonstration to the proposed principle.