Burgess, Natasha C, Sharp, Thomas H, Thomas, Franziska, Wood, Christopher W, Thomson, Andrew R, Zaccai, Nathan R, Brady, R Leo, Serpell, Louise C and Woolfson, Derek N (2015) Modular design of self-assembling peptide-based nanotubes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 137 (33). pp. 10554-10562. ISSN 0002-7863

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Abstract

An ability to design peptide-based nanotubes (PNTs) rationally with defined and mutable internal channels would advance understanding of peptide self-assembly, and present new biomaterials for nanotechnology and medicine. PNTs have been made from Fmoc dipeptides, cyclic peptides, and lock-washer helical bundles. Here we show that blunt-ended α-helical barrels, that is, preassembled bundles of α-helices with central channels, can be used as building blocks for PNTs. This approach is general and systematic, and uses a set of de novo helical bundles as standards. One of these bundles, a hexameric α-helical barrel, assembles into highly ordered PNTs, for which we have determined a structure by combining cryo-transmission electron microscopy, X-ray fiber diffraction, and model building. The structure reveals that the overall symmetry of the peptide module plays a critical role in ripening and ordering of the supramolecular assembly. PNTs based on pentameric, hexameric, and heptameric α-helical barrels sequester hydrophobic dye within their lumens.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Life Sciences > Biochemistry
Depositing User:	Louise Serpell
Date Deposited:	07 Apr 2016 09:12
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2021 15:43
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/60360

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