Figure 3.

Trapping of macromolecules by the synthetic AMCP nanomineral: (A) Percentage incorporation, from the original solution, of protein (BSA; left hand-side and middle column) and bacterial peptidoglycan (sPg, right hand-side column) in synthetic AMCP prepared in the presence of BSA with (black columns) and without peptidoglycan (white column), and as determined by the Bradford protein and periodic acid Schiff assay, respectively (n = 5-6 experiments ± SD). (B) Overall percentage incorporation of protein (black circles are BSA and red circles are avidin), bacterial fragments (black squares are sPg and red squares are LPS) and other macromolecules (black triangles are soluble starch and red squares are retinoic acid) in synthetic AMCP. (C-D) TEM of synthetic AMCP nanoparticles prepared in the presence of iron oxide nanoparticles showing fine nano-iron particles densely incorporated into the AMCP structure. Scale bars 100 nm and 50 nm respectively. (E-H) STEM-tomography data of synthetic AMCP, containing fine nano-iron particles, from the reconstructed volume by means of several orthoslices through the XY plane and (F-H) showing individual slices and finally (I-L) the 3D reconstruction in differing views. The iron oxide nanoparticles are shown in red in I-L.