Gold Nanoparticles and Shape Influence from Methanobactin

Abstract

Methanobactin is a biological molecule that is secreted by methanotrophic bacteria (that is, bacteria that live on methane gas). Methanobactin's role is to bind, reduce, and chaperone Cu[superscript]2+ ions from the environment back inside the bacterium. In addition to copper, methanobactin has been shown to bind a wide variety of metals and in some cases to reduce them. The purpose of this study was to examine methanobactin's chemistry with gold, namely the reduction of Au[superscript]3+ to Au[superscript]0 (that is, reducing gold ions to gold atoms).