Kowalczyk Tomasz, Hnatuszko-Konka Katarzyna, Gerszberg Aneta, Kononowicz Andrzej K
Department of Genetics and Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lodz, Banacha Street 12/16, 90-237, Lodz, Poland,
World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2014 Aug;30(8):2141-52. doi: 10.1007/s11274-014-1649-5. Epub 2014 Apr 4.
Elastin-like polypeptides (ELP) are artificial, genetically encodable biopolymers, belonging to elastomeric proteins, which are widespread in a wide range of living organisms. They are composed of a repeating pentapeptide sequence Val-Pro-Gly-Xaa-Gly, where the guest residue (Xaa) can be any naturally occurring amino acid except proline. These polymers undergo reversible phase transition that can be triggered by various environmental stimuli, such as temperature, pH or ionic strength. This behavior depends greatly on the molecular weight, concentration of ELP in the solution and composition of the amino acids constituting ELPs. At a temperature below the inverse transition temperature (Tt), ELPs are soluble, but insoluble when the temperature exceeds Tt. Furthermore, this feature is retained even when ELP is fused to the protein of interest. These unique properties make ELP very useful for a wide variety of biomedical applications (e.g. protein purification, drug delivery etc.) and it can be expected that smart biopolymers will play a significant role in the development of most new materials and technologies. Here we present the structure and properties of thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptides with a particular emphasis on biomedical and biotechnological application.
类弹性蛋白多肽（ELP）是一种人工合成的、可通过基因编码的生物聚合物，属于弹性蛋白类蛋白质，广泛存在于多种生物体中。它们由重复的五肽序列Val-Pro-Gly-Xaa-Gly组成，其中客体残基（Xaa）可以是除脯氨酸以外的任何天然存在的氨基酸。这些聚合物会发生可逆的相变，可由各种环境刺激引发，如温度、pH值或离子强度。这种行为在很大程度上取决于分子量、溶液中ELP的浓度以及构成ELP的氨基酸组成。在低于反转转变温度（Tt）时，ELP是可溶的，但当温度超过Tt时则不溶。此外，即使ELP与目标蛋白融合，这一特性仍会保留。这些独特的性质使ELP在多种生物医学应用（如蛋白质纯化、药物递送等）中非常有用，并且可以预期智能生物聚合物将在大多数新材料和技术的开发中发挥重要作用。在此，我们介绍热响应性类弹性蛋白多肽的结构和性质，特别强调其在生物医学和生物技术方面的应用。
