Czescik J Zamolo S Darbre T Rigo R Sissi C Pecina A Riccardi L De Vivo M Mancin F Scrimin P 2020 Similarly to enzymes, functionalized gold nanoparticles efficiently catalyze chemical reactions, hence the term nanozymes. Herein, we present our results showing how surface-passivated gold nanoparticles behave as synthetic nanonucleases, able to cleave pBR322 plasmid DNA with the highest efficiency reported so far for catalysts based on a single metal ion mechanism. Experimental and computational data indicate that we have been successful in creating a catalytic site precisely mimicking that suggested for natural metallonucleases relying on a single metal ion for their activity. It comprises one Zn(II) ion to which a phosphate diester of DNA is coordinated. Importantly, as in nucleic acids-processing enzymes, a positively charged arginine plays a key role by assisting with transition state stabilization and by reducing the pKa of the nucleophilic alcohol of a serine. Our results also show how designing a catalyst for a model substrate (bis-p-nitrophenylphosphate) may provide wrong indications as for its efficiency when it is tested against the real target (plasmid DNA). application/pdf https://sonar.ch/global/documents/186938 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1002/anie.202012513 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/32985766 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English). - 2020 DNA cleavage enzyme mimicry nanonuclease nanozymes phosphate cleavage A Gold Nanoparticle Nanonuclease Relying on a Zn(II) Mononuclear Complex. http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501