The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Photo Najla Hosseini

Najla Hosseini

Visiting research fellow

Photo Najla Hosseini

Conformation- and phosphorylation-dependent electron tunnelling across self-assembled monolayers of tau peptides

Author

  • Ali Akbar Ashkarran
  • Atiyeh Hosseini
  • Reza Loloee
  • George Perry
  • Ki Bum Lee
  • Mikael Lund
  • Mohammad Reza Ejtehadi
  • Morteza Mahmoudi

Summary, in English

We report on charge transport across self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of short tau peptides by probing the electron tunneling rates and quantum mechanical simulation. We measured the electron tunneling rates across SAMs of carboxyl-terminated linker molecules (C6H12O2S) and short cis-tau (CT) and trans-tau (TT) peptides, supported on template-stripped gold (AuTS) bottom electrode, with Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn)(EGaIn) top electrode. Measurements of the current density across thousands of AuTS/linker/tau//Ga2O3/EGaIn single-molecule junctions show that the tunneling current across CT peptide is one order of magnitude lower than that of TT peptide. Quantum mechanical simulation demonstrated a wider energy bandgap of the CT peptide, as compared to the TT peptide, which causes a reduction in its electron tunneling current. Our findings also revealed the critical role of phosphorylation in altering the charge transport characteristics of short peptides; more specifically, we found that the presence of phosphate groups can reduce the energy band gap in tau peptides and alter their electrical properties. Our results suggest that conformational and phosphorylation of short peptides (e.g., tau) can significantly change their charge transport characteristics and energy levels.

Department/s

  • NanoLund: Centre for Nanoscience
  • Computational Chemistry
  • eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration

Publishing year

2022-01-15

Language

English

Pages

2038-2050

Publication/Series

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

Volume

606

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Academic Press

Topic

  • Condensed Matter Physics (including Material Physics, Nano Physics)

Keywords

  • Charge transport
  • Cis-tau peptide
  • Conformation
  • Phosphorylation
  • Quantum mechanical simulation
  • Trans-tau peptide

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0021-9797