scholarly journals Molecular design of stapled pentapeptides as building blocks of self-assembled coiled coil–like fibers

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. eabd0492
Author(s):  
Yixiang Jiang ◽  
Wan Zhang ◽  
Fadeng Yang ◽  
Chuan Wan ◽  
Xiang Cai ◽  
...  

Peptide self-assembly inspired by natural superhelical coiled coils has been actively pursued but remains challenging due to limited helicity of short peptides. Side chain stapling can strengthen short helices but is unexplored in design of self-assembled helical nanofibers as it is unknown how staples could be adapted to coiled coil architecture. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of this design for pentapeptides using a computational method capable of predicting helicity and fiber-forming tendency of stapled peptides containing noncoded amino acids. Experiments showed that the best candidates, which carried an aromatically substituted staple and phenylalanine analogs, displayed exceptional helicity and assembled into nanofibers via specific head-to-tail hydrogen bonding and packing between staple and noncoded side chains. The fibers exhibited sheet-of-helix structures resembling the recently found collapsed coiled coils whose formation was sensitive to side chain flexibility. This study expands the chemical space of coiled coil assemblies and provides guidance for their design.

Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiawei Lu ◽  
Xiangyu Bu ◽  
Xinghua Zhang ◽  
Bing Liu

The shapes of colloidal particles are crucial to the self-assembled superstructures. Understanding the relationship between the shapes of building blocks and the resulting crystal structures is an important fundamental question....


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won Min Park

Coiled-coils, the bundles of intertwined helical protein motifs, have drawn much attention as versatile molecular toolkits. Because of programmable interaction specificity and affinity as well as well-established sequence-to-structure relationships, coiled-coils have been used as subunits that self-assemble various molecular complexes in a range of fields. In this review, I describe recent advances in the field of protein nanotechnology, with a focus on programming assembly of protein nanostructures using coiled-coil modules. Modular design approaches to converting the helical motifs into self-assembling building blocks are described, followed by a discussion on the molecular basis and principles underlying the modular designs. This review also provides a summary of recently developed nanostructures with a variety of structural features, which are in categories of unbounded nanostructures, discrete nanoparticles, and well-defined origami nanostructures. Challenges existing in current design strategies, as well as desired improvements for controls over material properties and functionalities for applications, are also provided.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (31) ◽  
pp. 6739-6752
Author(s):  
Kaiqi Long ◽  
Yuwei Liu ◽  
Yafei Li ◽  
Weiping Wang

This review introduces trigonal building blocks and summarizes their structural characteristics, self-assembly ability and biomedical applications.


2004 ◽  
Vol 08 (02) ◽  
pp. 125-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huchen Zhou ◽  
John T. Groves

Cyclodextrins are versatile building blocks for a variety of macromolecules due to the inclusion complexes that are formed with hydrophobic organic molecules. Cyclodextrin-porphyrin interactions are of particular interest since cyclodextrins can serve as a non-covalent binding pocket while metalloporphyrins could serve as the heme analogs in the construction of heme protein model compounds. Various approaches to the design and assembly of biomimetic porphyrin constructs are compared and contrasted in this minireview with a particular emphasis on self-assembled and porphyrin-cyclodextrin systems. Several recent advances from our laboratories are described in this context. A sensitive fluorescent binding probe, 6A-N-dansyl-permethylated-β-cyclodextrin (Dan-NH-TMCD), was found to form 2:1 complexes with the meso-tetraphenylporphyrins Mn(III)TCPP , Mn(III)TPPS and Mn(III)TF 4 TMAP with high binding constants. A perPEGylated cyclodextrin, heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl)-β-cyclodextrin (TPCD), has been shown by 1 H NMR spectroscopy to form a 1:1 complex with H 2 TCPP with a binding constant above 108M-1. Such a strong binding constant is the largest found for a 1:1 complex between a monomeric cyclodextrin and a guest. TPCD was also found to bind Mn(III)TCPP with a binding constant of 1.2 × 106 M -1. A novel, self-assembled hemoprotein model, hemodextrin is also described. The molecular design is based on a PEGylated cyclodextrin scaffold that bears both a heme-binding pocket and an axial ligand that binds an iron porphyrin. The binding constant for Fe (III) TPPS (iron(III) meso-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin) by py-PPCD was determined to be 2 × 106 M -1. The pyridyl nitrogen of py-PPCD was shown to ligate to the iron center by observing signal changes in the Fe(II) -porphyrin 1 H NMR spectrum. This hemodextrin ensemble, a minimalist myoglobin, was shown to bind dioxygen reversibly and to form a stable ferryl species.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garima Thakur ◽  
Kovur Prashanthi ◽  
Thomas Thundat

ABSTRACTSelf–assembly of molecular building blocks provides an interesting route to produce well-defined chemical structures. Tailoring the functionalities on the building blocks and controlling the time of self-assembly could control the properties as well as the structure of the resultant patterns. Spontaneous self-assembly of biomolecules can generate bio-interfaces for myriad of potential applications. Here we report self-assembled patterning of human serum albumin (HSA) protein in to ring structures on a polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified gold surface. The structure of the self-assembled protein molecules and kinetics of structure formation entirely revolved around controlling the nucleation of the base layer. The formation of different sizes of ring patterns is attributed to growth conditions of the PEG islands for bio-conjugation. These assemblies might be beneficial in forming structurally ordered architectures of active proteins such as HSA or other globular proteins.


2006 ◽  
Vol 978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodor Ackbarow ◽  
Markus J. Buehler

AbstractCoiled-coil alpha-helical dimers are the elementary building blocks of intermediate filaments (IFs), an important component of the cell's cytoskeleton. Therefore, IFs play a leading role in the mechanical integrity of the cells. Here we use atomistic simulation to carry out tensile tests on coiled-coils as well as on single alpha-helices of the 2B segment of the vimentin dimer that has been shown to control the large-deformation behavior of cells. We compare the characteristic force-strain curves of both structures and suggest explanations for the differences on this fundamental level of hierarchical assembly. We further systematically explore the strain rate dependence of the mechanical properties of the vimentin coiled-coil protein. We develop a simple continuum model capable of reproducing the atomistic modeling results. The model enables us to extrapolate to much lower deformation rates approaching those used in experiment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magesh Sadasivam ◽  
Pinar Avci ◽  
Gaurav K. Gupta ◽  
Shanmugamurthy Lakshmanan ◽  
Rakkiyappan Chandran ◽  
...  

AbstractPhotodynamic therapy (PDT) employs the combination of non-toxic photosensitizers (PS) together with harmless visible light of the appropriate wavelength to produce reactive oxygen species that kill unwanted cells. Because many PS are hydrophobic molecules prone to aggregation, numerous drug delivery vehicles have been tested to solubilize these molecules, render them biocompatible and enhance the ease of administration after intravenous injection. The recent rise in nanotechnology has markedly expanded the range of these nanoparticulate delivery vehicles beyond the well-established liposomes and micelles. Self-assembled nanoparticles are formed by judicious choice of monomer building blocks that spontaneously form a well-oriented 3-dimensional structure that incorporates the PS when subjected to the appropriate conditions. This self-assembly process is governed by a subtle interplay of forces on the molecular level. This review will cover the state of the art in the preparation and use of self-assembled liposomal nanoparticles within the context of PDT.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 161092 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Indelicato ◽  
P. Burkhard ◽  
R. Twarock

We introduce here a mathematical procedure for the structural classification of a specific class of self-assembling protein nanoparticles (SAPNs) that are used as a platform for repetitive antigen display systems. These SAPNs have distinctive geometries as a consequence of the fact that their peptide building blocks are formed from two linked coiled coils that are designed to assemble into trimeric and pentameric clusters. This allows a mathematical description of particle architectures in terms of bipartite (3,5)-regular graphs. Exploiting the relation with fullerene graphs, we provide a complete atlas of SAPN morphologies. The classification enables a detailed understanding of the spectrum of possible particle geometries that can arise in the self-assembly process. Moreover, it provides a toolkit for a systematic exploitation of SAPNs in bioengineering in the context of vaccine design, predicting the density of B-cell epitopes on the SAPN surface, which is critical for a strong humoral immune response.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1106-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaia Fumagalli ◽  
Michael S. Christodoulou ◽  
Benedetta Riva ◽  
Inigo Revuelta ◽  
Cristina Marucci ◽  
...  

The ability of 4-(1,2-diphenylbut-1-en-1-yl)aniline as a self-assembly inducer is reported.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Gentile ◽  
Erica Del Grosso ◽  
Leonard J. Prins ◽  
Francesco Ricci

Taking advantage of the addressability and programmability of DNA/DNA non-covalent interactions we report here the rational design of orthogonal DNA-based addressable tiles that self-assemble into polymer-like structures that can be reconfigured and reorganized by external inputs. The different tiles share the same 5-nucleotide sticky ends responsible for self-assembly but are rationally designed to contain a specific regulator-binding domain that can be orthogonally targeted by different DNA regulator strands (activators and inhibitors). We show that by sequentially adding specific activators and inhibitors it is possible to re-organize in a dynamic and reversible way the formed polymer-like structures to display well-defined distributions: homopolymers made of a single tile, random polymers in which different tiles are distributed randomly and block structures in which the tiles are organized in segments.


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