Titanium mineralization in ferritin: a room temperature nonphotochemical preparation and biophysical characterization

The incremental addition of titanium(III) citrate to H-chain homopolymers of human ferritin results in the formation of 1.5–6.5-nm particles of amorphous TiO2 within the nanocage of the protein. The mineralization conditions are mild, featuring ambient temperature and no need for photochemical activation. Low ratios of titanium to protein favor intraprotein mineralization, and the products are characterized by stained and unstained transmission electron microscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, analytical ultracentrifugation, and metal analysis. With up to 1,000 equiv of metal, there is no change to the protein hydrodynamic radius or diffusion constant. There is, however, a systematic shift in the sedimentation coefficient, which confirms mineralization within the protein core.