Nanobiotechnology: Applications in Agriculture, Food Science and Engineering

摘要

This paper reviews recent research focused on edible nanoparticles and sensor development for food and agricultural systems. Nanoparticles were produced from starch, BSA and gliadin by desolvation method. Spherical nanoparticles were produced in the range of 50 to 150 nm using different manufacturing methods for BSA. NPs of starch were manufactured with different amylose/amylopectin ratio which were achieved by mixing Hylon VII (70% amylose starch) and Amioca (98% amylopectin starch) to obtain various amylopectin/amylose ratios (30 to 100%). Spherical nanoparticles were produced in the range of 50 to 150 nm from different ratios. Gliadin nanoparticles varied in size from 180 to 900 nm depending on parameters used. Biocompatible nanotubes (NTs) were produced using Layer-by-Layer (LbL) deposition of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) and a positively charged biopolymer into a nano-porous template (400 nm). The robust NTs were produced by deposition of three bilayers. Quantum dots (QDs) were conjugated to gliadin antibody and used as a fluorescent probes to track gliadin protein in dough and baked bread samples. We also designed a novel and green platform for on-site detection of agriculture or food related target molecules from Zein, a prolamin protein of corn. In our project, a free-standing zein film having surface nano-patterns was formed. Nano-patterns combined with a thin layer of gold film enables the platform to be used as a SERS detection tool.