β-Sheet Structure Formation within Binary Blends of Two Spider Silk Related Peptides

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Mirjam Hofmaier - , Chair of Physical Chemistry of Polymeric Materials, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Mikhail Malanin - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Eva Bittrich - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Sarah Lentz - , University of Bayreuth (Author)
  • Birgit Urban - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Thomas Scheibel - , University of Bayreuth (Author)
  • Andreas Fery - , Chair of Physical Chemistry of Polymeric Materials, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Martin Müller - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) play an important role in molecular biology and medicine because their induced folding can lead to so-called conformational diseases, where β-amyloids play an important role. Still, the molecular folding process into the different substructures, such as parallel/antiparallel or extended β-sheet/crossed β-sheet is not fully understood. The recombinant spider silk protein eADF4(Cx) consisting of repeating modules C, which are composed of a crystalline (pep-c) and an amorphous peptide sequence (pep-a), can be used as a model system for IDP since it can assemble into similar structures. In this work, blend films of the pep-c and pep-a sequences were investigated to modulate the β-sheet formation by varying the molar fraction of pep-c and pep-a. Dichroic Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), circular dichroism, spectroscopic ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, and IR nanospectroscopy were used to examine the secondary structure, the formation of parallel and antiparallel β-sheets, their orientation, and the microscopic roughness and phase formation within peptide blend films upon methanol post-treatment. New insights into the formation of filament-like structures in these silk blend films were obtained. Filament-like structures could be locally assigned to β-sheet-rich structures. Further, the antiparallel or parallel character and the orientation of the formed β-sheets could be clearly determined. Finally, the ideal ratio of pep-a and pep-c sequences found in the fibroin 4 of the major ampullate silk of spiders could also be rationalized by comparing the blend and spider silk protein systems.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)825-840
Number of pages16
JournalBiomacromolecules
Volume24
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 13 Feb 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 36632028
WOS 000918819800001

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adsorption, Amyloid fibrils, Atr-ftir, Block-copolymers, Dragline silk, Infrared-spectroscopy, Nmr, Polypeptides, Protein secondary structure, Spectra, Silk/chemistry, Protein Structure, Secondary, Peptides/chemistry, Recombinant Proteins, Fibroins/chemistry, Animals, Protein Conformation, beta-Strand, Spiders