School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.
Department of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory for Computational Physical Sciences (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Dec 21;59(52):23731-23739. doi: 10.1002/anie.202009488. Epub 2020 Oct 15.
Supramolecular polymer co-assembly is a useful approach to modulate peptide nanostructures. However, the co-assembly scenario where one of the peptide building blocks simultaneously forms a hydrogel is yet to be studied. Herein, we investigate the co-assembly formation of diphenylalanine (FF), and Fmoc-diphenylalanine (FmocFF) within the 3D network of FmocFF hydrogel. The overlapping peptide sequence between the two building blocks leads to their co-assembly within the gel state modulating the nature of the FF crystals. We observe the formation of branched microcrystalline aggregates with an atypical curvature, in contrast to the FF assemblies obtained from aqueous solution. Optical microscopy reveal the sigmoidal kinetic growth profile of these aggregates. Microfluidics and ToF-SIMS experiments exhibit the presence of co-assembled structures of FF and FmocFF in the crystalline aggregates. Molecular dynamics simulation was used to decipher the mechanism of co-assembly formation.
超分子聚合物共组装是一种调节肽纳米结构的有效方法。然而，同时形成水凝胶的肽构建块的共组装情况尚未得到研究。在本文中，我们研究了二苯丙氨酸（FF）和 Fmoc-二苯丙氨酸（FmocFF）在 FmocFF 水凝胶 3D 网络内的共组装形成。两个构建块之间重叠的肽序列导致它们在凝胶状态下共组装，从而调节 FF 晶体的性质。我们观察到形成具有非典型曲率的支化微晶体聚集体，与从水溶液中获得的 FF 组装体形成对比。光学显微镜揭示了这些聚集体的 S 形动力学生长曲线。微流控和 ToF-SIMS 实验表明，在晶体聚集体中存在 FF 和 FmocFF 的共组装结构。分子动力学模拟用于揭示共组装形成的机制。
