Rapid, room-temperature synthesis of antibacterial bionanocomposites of lysozyme with amorphous silica or titania

Lysozyme induces the rapid, room temperature precipitation of amorphous silica and titania, which in turn provides excellent support matrices for additional enzymes added during the reaction. The lysozyme-mediated precipitation is a one-pot procedure that simultaneously results in lysozyme encapsulation of antimicrobial activity. The inorganic matrices protect the immobilized biomolecules from physical denaturation that occurs with free enzymes in solution and the lysozyme offers protection from microbial degradation. The results show that biomineralization/bioencapsulation strategy provides an economical and facile route for the synthesis of a wide range of functional biocomposites comprising biomolecules.