Ordered Packing of β-Sheet Nanofibrils into Nanotubes: Multi-hierarchical Assembly of Designed Short Peptides

Nano Letters ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyue Ma ◽  
Yurong Zhao ◽  
Chunyong He ◽  
Xing Zhou ◽  
Hao Qi ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Colliard ◽  
Gregory Morrosin ◽  
Hans-Conrad zur Loye ◽  
May Nyman

Superatoms are nanometer-sized molecules or particles that can form ordered lattices, mimicking their atomic counterparts. Hierarchical assembly of superatoms gives rise to emergent properties in superlattices of quantum-dots, p-block clusters, and fullerenes. Here, we introduce a family of uranium-oxysulfate cluster anions whose hierarchical assembly in water is controlled by two parameters; acidity and the countercation. In acid, larger Ln<sup>III</sup> (Ln=La-Ho) link hexamer (U<sub>6</sub>) oxoclusters into body-centered cubic frameworks, while smaller Ln<sup>III</sup> (Ln=Er-Lu &Y) promote linking of fourteen U<sub>6</sub>-clusters into hollow superclusters (U<sub>84</sub> superatoms). U<sub>84</sub> assembles into superlattices including cubic-closest packed, body-centered cubic, and interpenetrating networks, bridged by interstitial countercations, and U<sub>6</sub>-clusters. Divalent transition metals (TM=Mn<sup>II </sup>and Zn<sup>II</sup>), with no added acid, charge-balance and promote the fusion of 10 U<sub>6</sub> and 10 U-monomers into a wheel–shaped cluster (U<sub>70</sub>). Dissolution of U<sub>70</sub> in organic media reveals (by small-angle Xray scattering) that differing supramolecular assemblies are accessed, controlled by TM-linking of U<sub>70</sub>-clusters. <br>


2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Zuo ◽  
Zongyun Chen ◽  
Zhijian Cao ◽  
Wenxin Li ◽  
Yingliang Wu

: The scorpion toxins are the largest potassium channel-blocking peptide family. The understanding of toxin binding interfaces is usually restricted by two classical binding interfaces: one is the toxin α-helix motif, the other is the antiparallel β-sheet motif. In this review, such traditional knowledge was updated by another two different binding interfaces: one is BmKTX toxin using the turn motif between the α-helix and antiparallel β-sheet domains as the binding interface, the other is Ts toxin using turn motif between the β-sheet in the N-terminal and α-helix domains as the binding interface. Their interaction analysis indicated that the scarce negatively charged residues in the scorpion toxins played a critical role in orientating the toxin binding interface. In view of the toxin negatively charged amino acids as “binding interface regulator”, the law of scorpion toxin-potassium channel interaction was proposed, that is, the polymorphism of negatively charged residue distribution determines the diversity of toxin binding interfaces. Such law was used to develop scorpion toxin-potassium channel recognition control technique. According to this technique, three Kv1.3 channel-targeted peptides, using BmKTX as the template, were designed with the distinct binding interfaces from that of BmKTX through modulating the distribution of toxin negatively charged residues. In view of the potassium channel as the common targets of different animal toxins, the proposed law was also shown to helpfully orientate the binding interfaces of other animal toxins. Clearly, the toxin-potassium channel interaction law would strongly accelerate the research and development of different potassium channelblocking animal toxins in the future.


Open Biology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 130100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhisheng Lu ◽  
Julien R. C. Bergeron ◽  
R. Andrew Atkinson ◽  
Torsten Schaller ◽  
Dennis A. Veselkov ◽  
...  

The HIV-1 viral infectivity factor (Vif) neutralizes cell-encoded antiviral APOBEC3 proteins by recruiting a cellular ElonginB (EloB)/ElonginC (EloC)/Cullin5-containing ubiquitin ligase complex, resulting in APOBEC3 ubiquitination and proteolysis. The suppressors-of-cytokine-signalling-like domain (SOCS-box) of HIV-1 Vif is essential for E3 ligase engagement, and contains a BC box as well as an unusual proline-rich motif. Here, we report the NMR solution structure of the Vif SOCS–ElonginBC (EloBC) complex. In contrast to SOCS-boxes described in other proteins, the HIV-1 Vif SOCS-box contains only one α-helical domain followed by a β-sheet fold. The SOCS-box of Vif binds primarily to EloC by hydrophobic interactions. The functionally essential proline-rich motif mediates a direct but weak interaction with residues 101–104 of EloB, inducing a conformational change from an unstructured state to a structured state. The structure of the complex and biophysical studies provide detailed insight into the function of Vif's proline-rich motif and reveal novel dynamic information on the Vif–EloBC interaction.


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