Ordering of protein and water molecules at their interfaces with chitin nano-crystals

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

  • Clara Valverde Serrano - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Autor:in)
  • Hanna Leemreize - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Autor:in)
  • Benny Bar-On - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Autor:in)
  • Friedrich G. Barth - , Universität Wien (Autor:in)
  • Peter Fratzl - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Autor:in)
  • Emil Zolotoyabko - , Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (Autor:in)
  • Yael Politi - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Autor:in)

Abstract

Synchrotron X-ray diffraction was applied to study the structure of biogenic α-chitin crystals composing the tendon of the spider Cupiennius salei. Measurements were carried out on pristine chitin crystals stabilized by proteins and water, as well as after their deproteinization and dehydration. We found substantial shifts (up to δq/q = 9% in the wave vector in q-space) in the (0 2 0) diffraction peak position between intact and purified chitin samples. However, chitin lattice parameters extracted from the set of reflections (hkl), which did not contain the (0 2 0)-reflection, showed no systematic variation between the pristine and the processed samples. The observed shifts in the (0 2 0) peak position are discussed in terms of the ordering-induced modulation of the protein and water electron density near the surface of the ultra-thin chitin fibrils due to strong protein/chitin and water/chitin interactions. The extracted modulation periods can be used as a quantitative parameter characterizing the interaction length.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)124-131
Seitenumfang8
FachzeitschriftJournal of Structural Biology
Jahrgang193
Ausgabenummer2
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 1 Feb. 2016
Peer-Review-StatusJa
Extern publiziertJa

Externe IDs

PubMed 26687414
ORCID /0000-0002-2872-8277/work/142239156

Schlagworte

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Schlagwörter

  • Chitin, Chitin/protein interaction, Chitin/water interaction, X-ray diffraction