Solution behaviour of lysozyme in the presence of novel biodegradable gemini surfactants

Extensive applications of biomacromolecule-surfactant mixtures in cosmetics, industry, agriculture, laundry and biomedical realms have raised environmental and ecological issues. Therefore, scientists now-a-days are concerned to design environmentally benevolent surfactant-protein mixtures which are not only efficient, but ecological too. In this context, we have studied the solution behaviour of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) in the presence of two novel biodegradable gemini surfactants by utilizing various spectroscopic and computational methods. The results confirmed the complex formation between Cm-E2O-Cm and HEWL via static mechanism and hydrophobic forces were found to be major contributing forces during interactions. C12-E2O-C12 was found to bind strongly to HEWL than C14-E2O-C14, owing to its smaller size and better penetration efficacy into the hydrophobic domains of HEWL. Upon Cm-E2O-Cm addition, conformational/microenvironmental alterations in HEWL were revealed, respectively, by circular dichroism and pyrene micro-polarity studies. Molecular modeling demonstrates that Cm-E2O-Cm binds in the locality of aromatic residues (Trp/Tyr). This study in future may lend a hand in designing safe and environmentally green surfactant-protein mixtures for their ultimate exploitation in food, laundry, and agriculture prefecture.