Probing the Structural Details of Chitin Nanocrystal–Water Interfaces by Three-Dimensional Atomic Force Microscopy
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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date
2022-09-20
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en
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14
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Small Methods, Volume 6, issue 9
Abstract
Chitin is one of the most abundant and renewable natural biopolymers. It exists in the form of crystalline microfibrils and is the basic structural building block of many biological materials. Its surface crystalline structure is yet to be reported at the molecular level. Herein, atomic force microscopy (AFM) in combination with molecular dynamics simulations reveals the molecular-scale structural details of the chitin nanocrystal (chitin NC)–water interface. High-resolution AFM images reveal the molecular details of chitin chain arrangements at the surfaces of individual chitin NCs, showing highly ordered, stable crystalline structures almost free of structural defects or disorder. 3D-AFM measurements with submolecular spatial resolution demonstrate that chitin NC surfaces interact strongly with interfacial water molecules creating stable, well-ordered hydration layers. Inhomogeneous encapsulation of the underlying chitin substrate by these hydration layers reflects the chitin NCs’ multifaceted surface character with different chain arrangements and molecular packing. These findings provide important insights into chitin NC structures at the molecular level, which is critical for developing the properties of chitin-based nanomaterials. Furthermore, these results will contribute to a better understanding of the chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin and other native polysaccharides, which is also essential for the enzymatic conversion of biomass.Description
Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by Grants‐in‐Aid for Scientific Research (Nos. 20H00345 and 20K05321) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (MEXT). This work was also partly funded by JSTMirai Program (No. 18077272). The authors thank the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI); MEXT, Japan; and the Kanazawa University Fund (Strategic Research Promotion Program, Core‐to‐Core Program). The authors also acknowledge financial support from the Sumitomo Foundation (No. 190382), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC Canada) (Discovery Grant F16‐05032). This work was a part of the Academy of Finland's Flagship Programme under Projects No. 318890 and 318891 (Competence Center for Materials Bioeconomy, FinnCERES) and also Project No. 314862. Computing resources from the Aalto Science‐IT project and CSC, Helsinki are gratefully acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Small Methods published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Keywords
atomic force microscopy, chitin nanocrystals, chitin–water interactions, hydration layers, molecular dynamics simulations, polysaccharides, α-chitin
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Citation
Yurtsever, A, Wang, P X, Priante, F, Morais Jaques, Y, Miyata, K, MacLachlan, M J, Foster, A S & Fukuma, T 2022, ' Probing the Structural Details of Chitin Nanocrystal–Water Interfaces by Three-Dimensional Atomic Force Microscopy ', Small Methods, vol. 6, no. 9, 2200320 . https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202200320