Effect of sequence features on assembly of spider silk block copolymers

OS Tokareva and SC Lin and MM Jacobsen and WW Huang and D Rizzo and D Li and M Simon and C Staii and P Cebe and JY Wong and MJ Buehler and DL Kaplan, JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY, 186, 412-419 (2014).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2014.03.004

Bioengineered spider silk block copolymers were studied to understand the effect of protein chain length and sequence chemistry on the formation of secondary structure and materials assembly. Using a combination of in vitro protein design and assembly studies, we demonstrate that silk block copolymers possessing multiple repetitive units self-assemble into lamellar microstructures. Additionally, the study provides insights into the assembly behavior of spider silk block copolymers in concentrated salt solutions. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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