Nanosized and tunable design of biosilica particles using novel silica-forming peptide-modified chimeric ferritin templates

[Display omitted] •Reliable and controllable generation of biosilica nanoparticles (NPs) by new silica forming peptide-modified ferritin (Kps-Fn)•Synthesis of biosilica NPs (100–500nm) with desired size by changing the ratios of Kps-Fn and Fn subunits in the chimeric Kps-Fn templates.•The biosilica NPs with high surface area causing a better DNA-loading efficiency. Biosilica materials can be generated by biomolecules under physiological or mild/ambient conditions. However, nanosized and tunable design method of biosilica particles has not yet been set up. Here, Kps, a silica forming peptide (KPSHHHHHTGAN) was introduced to N-terminus of ferritin via protein fusion method to generate new Kps-modified ferritin (Kps-Fn) for reliable formation of biosilica particles. Then, novel chimeric Kps-Fn was designed for controllable generation of biosilica nanoparticles (NPs). By changing the ratios of Kps-Fn and Fn subunits in the chimeric Kps-Fn templates, desired size of biosilica NPs (100–500nm) can be achieved. The low surface density of Kps on the chimeric template could lead to the small-sized biosilica NPs with the increased surface area/amount. The biosilica NPs developed here showed better DNA adsorption/elution performance than the commercially available silica NPs. This work is a new way to generate desirable biosilica NPs, which can be applied for the design of various biohybrid nanomaterials.