Spider-silk Inspired Polymeric Networks by Harnessing the Mechanical Potential of β-sheets Through Network Guided Assembly

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Apr 4

PMID 32242004

Citations 13

Authors

Nicholas Jun-An Chan

Dunyin Gu

Shereen Tan

Qiang Fu

Thomas Geoffrey Pattison

Andrea J OConnor

Greg G Qiao

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The high toughness of natural spider-silk is attributed to their unique β-sheet secondary structures. However, the preparation of mechanically strong β-sheet rich materials remains a significant challenge due to challenges involved in processing the polymers/proteins, and managing the assembly of the hydrophobic residues. Inspired by spider-silk, our approach effectively utilizes the superior mechanical toughness and stability afforded by localised β-sheet domains within an amorphous network. Using a grafting-from polymerisation approach within an amorphous hydrophilic network allows for spatially controlled growth of poly(valine) and poly(valine-r-glycine) as β-sheet forming polypeptides via N-carboxyanhydride ring opening polymerisation. The resulting continuous β-sheet nanocrystal network exhibits improved compressive strength and stiffness over the initial network lacking β-sheets of up to 30 MPa (300 times greater than the initial network) and 6 MPa (100 times greater than the initial network) respectively. The network demonstrates improved resistance to strong acid, base and protein denaturants over 28 days.

Citing Articles

Tough Hydrogels with Different Toughening Mechanisms and Applications.

Xu Z, Chen Y, Cao Y, Xue B Int J Mol Sci. 2024; 25(5).

PMID: 38473922 PMC: 10932079. DOI: 10.3390/ijms25052675.

Superfast Gelation of Spider Silk-Based Artificial Silk Protein.

Wen F, Wang Y, Tu B, Cui L Gels. 2024; 10(1).

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Tuning the viscoelastic properties of peptide coacervates by single amino acid mutations and salt kosmotropicity.

Wu X, Sun Y, Yu J, Miserez A Commun Chem. 2024; 7(1):5.

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Protection and Restoration of Damaged Hair via a Polyphenol Complex by Promoting Mechanical Strength, Antistatic, and Ultraviolet Protection Properties.

Won H, Kim T, An I, Bae H, Park S Biomimetics (Basel). 2023; 8(3).

PMID: 37504184 PMC: 10807499. DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics8030296.

Self-Healing of Recombinant Spider Silk Gel and Coating.

Wu S, Chuang W, Ho J, Wu H, Hsu S Polymers (Basel). 2023; 15(8).

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