Enzyme Conformation Influences the Performance of Lipase-powered Nanomotors.

Enzyme powered micro/nanomotors have great potential applications in various areas. To efficiently reach those applications, it is necessary to understand the fundamental aspects affecting the motion dynamics. Herein, we explored the impact of enzyme orientation on the performance of lipase-powered nanomotors by tuning the lipase immobilization strategies. The influence of the lipase orientation and lid conformation on substrate binding and catalysis was analyzed via MD simulations. Besides, the motion performance indicates the hydrophobic binding ( via OTES) represents the best orienting strategy, providing 48.4 % and 95.4% increase in diffusion coefficient compared to hydrophilic binding ( via APTES) and Brownian motion (no fuel) respectively (with C [triacetin] of 100 mM). This work provides critical evidences of immobilization strategy and corresponding enzyme orientation for the catalytic activity and in turn, the motion performance of nanomotors, thus helpful to future applications.