Fluorescent Microswimmers Based on Cross-β Amyloid Nanotubes and Divergent Cascade Networks

Shaped through millions of years of evolution, the spatial localization of multiple enzymes in living cells employs extensive cascade reactions to enable highly coordinated multimodal functions. Herein, by utilizing a complex divergent cascade, we exploit the catalytic potential as well as templating abilities of streamlined cross-β amyloid nanotubes to yield two orthogonal roles simultaneously. The short peptide based paracrystalline nanotube surfaces demonstrated the generation of fluorescence signals within entangled networks loaded with alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). The nanotubular morphologies were further used to generate cascade-driven microscopic motility through surface entrapment of sarcosine oxidase (SOX) and catalase (Cat). Moreover, a divergent cascade network was initiated by upstream catalysis of the substrate molecules through the surface mutation of catalytic moieties. Notably, the resultant downstream products led to the generation of motile fluorescent microswimmers by utilizing the two sets of orthogonal properties and, thus, mimicked the complex cascade-mediated functionalities of extant biology.