Abstract
Structural proteins such as "suckerins"present promising avenues for fabricating functional materials. Suckerins are a family of naturally occurring block copolymer-type proteins that comprise the sucker ring teeth of cephalopods and are known to self-assemble into supramolecular networks of nanoconfined β-sheets. Here, we report the characterization and controllable, nanoscale self-assembly of suckerin-12 (S12). We characterize the impacts of salt, pH, and protein concentration on S12 solubility, secondary structure, and self-assembly. In doing so, we identify conditions for fabricating â100 nm nanoassemblies (NAs) with narrow size distributions. Finally, by installing a noncanonical amino acid (ncAA) into S12, we demonstrate the assembly of NAs that are covalently conjugated with a hydrophobic fluorophore and the ability to change self-assembly and β-sheet content by PEGylation. This work presents new insights into the biochemistry of suckerin-12 and demonstrates how ncAAs can be used to expedite and fine-tune the design of protein materials.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3388-3399 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | ACS synthetic biology |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 18 2020 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank the Center of Excellence for Bioprogrammable Nanomaterials (C-ABN) through the Air Force Research Laboratories for providing funding (FA8650-15-2-5518) and a collaborative infrastructure for our research. This work made use of the EPIC, Keck-II, IMSERC, and facilities of Northwestern University’s NUANCE Center, which have received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF NNCI-1542205), the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1121262) at the Materials Research Center, the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN), the Keck Foundation, and the State of Illinois, through the IIN. The authors would like to thank Miles Markmann and Eric Roth for helpful conversations about TEM. The authors would like to thank Marquise Crosby for helpful conversations about protein purification. J.M.H. was supported by the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, the C-ABN, and the Ryan Fellowship. M.C.J. acknowledges the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Program for support. P.B.D. is adjunct faculty at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. R.R.N. acknowledges funding support from AFOSR.
Keywords
- bioinspired materials
- noncanonical amino acids
- protein characterization
- protein nanomaterials
- self-assembly
- suckerins
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biomedical Engineering
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)