State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
Nanotechnology. 2011 Jun 17;22(24):245609. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/22/24/245609. Epub 2011 May 4.
To gain insight into the hierarchical self-assembly of peptides and the surface effect on assembly formation, an aromatic peptide of diphenylalanine (FF) was used in this study as the model peptide. We found that the diphenylalanine peptide could self-assemble into a core-branched nanostructure through non-covalent interactions in aqueous solution. The pre-assemblies further assembled into nanofibers and microvesicles on the glass surface and microporous membrane, respectively, showing a significant dependence on surface characteristics. The structural and morphological differences between nanofibers and microvesicles were investigated directly using several spectroscopy and microscopy techniques. Our results revealed a hierarchical and interface-induced assembly behavior of diphenylalanine peptide. The novel strategy based on the surface effect allows one to controllably fabricate various peptide-based nanostructures.
为了深入了解肽的分级自组装以及表面对组装形成的影响，本研究选用芳香族二苯丙氨酸（FF）肽作为模型肽。我们发现二苯丙氨酸肽可以在水溶液中通过非共价相互作用自组装成具有核分支的纳米结构。预组装体进一步在玻璃表面和微孔膜上组装成纳米纤维和微囊泡，分别表现出对表面特性的显著依赖性。使用几种光谱和显微镜技术直接研究了纳米纤维和微囊泡之间的结构和形态差异。我们的结果揭示了二苯丙氨酸肽的分级和界面诱导组装行为。基于表面效应的新策略可以实现各种基于肽的纳米结构的可控构建。
