López Barreiro, Diego;
Houben, Klaartje;
Schouten, Olaf;
Koenderink, Gijsje H;
Thies, Jens C;
Sagt, Cees MJ;
(2024)
Order–Disorder Balance in Silk-Elastin-like Polypeptides Determines Their Self-Assembly into Hydrogel Networks.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
10.1021/acsami.4c17903.
(In press).
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Abstract
The biofabrication of recombinant structural proteins with a range of mechanical or structural features usually relies on the generation of protein libraries displaying variations in terms of amino acid composition, block structure, molecular weight, or physical/chemical cross-linking sites. This approach, while highly successful in generating a wealth of knowledge regarding the links between design features and material properties, has some inherent limitations related to its low throughput. This slows down the pace of the development of de novo recombinant structural proteins. Here, we propose an approach to tune the viscoelastic properties of temperature-responsive hydrogels made of silk-elastin-like polypeptides (SELPs) without modifying their sequence. To do so, we subject purified SELPs to two different postprocessing methods─water annealing or EtOH annealing─that alter the topology of highly disordered SELP networks via the formation of ordered intermolecular β-sheet physical cross-links. Combining different analytical techniques, we connect the order/disorder balance in SELPs with their gelling behavior. Furthermore, we show that introducing a functional block (in this case, a biomineralizing peptide) in the sequence of SELPs can disrupt its self-assembly and that such disruption can only be overcome by EtOH annealing. Our results suggest that postprocessing of as-purified SELPs might be a simple approach to tune the self-assembly of SELPs into biomaterials with bespoke viscoelastic properties beyond the traditional approach of developing SELP libraries via genetic engineering.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Order–Disorder Balance in Silk-Elastin-like Polypeptides Determines Their Self-Assembly into Hydrogel Networks |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1021/acsami.4c17903 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c17903 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Biofabrication; hydrogels; biomaterials; structural proteins; biopolymers; silk; elastin |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10202165 |
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