Title :
Nanoscale helical ribbons from self-assembly of a β-sheet peptide
Author :
Marini, Davide M. ; Hwang, Wonmuk ; Lauffenburger, Douglas ; Zhang, Shuguang ; Kamm, Roger D.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. Eng., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
We have investigated the intermediate structures in the self-assembly of a peptide (of sequence FKFEFKFE) designed with alternating polar and nonpolar amino acids. Self-assembly was followed over time using atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and circular dichroism. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that these intermediates are left-handed double helical β-sheets. These findings have implications in the study of protein conformational diseases and in the molecular design of materials.
Keywords :
atomic force microscopy; biological techniques; circular dichroism; molecular biophysics; molecular configurations; molecular dynamics method; nanotechnology; organic compounds; transmission electron microscopy; β-sheet peptide self-assembly; FKFEFKFE sequence; left-handed double helical β-sheets; molecular design; nanoscale devices manufacture; nanoscale fibers networks; nanoscale helical ribbons; nanoscale materials; protein conformational diseases; protein fibrils; very regular structures; Amino acids; Atomic force microscopy; Manufacturing; Nanobioscience; Nanoscale devices; Optical fiber devices; Optical fiber testing; Peptides; Proteins; Self-assembly;
Conference_Titel :
Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Engineering, 2002. Proceedings of the IEEE-EMBS Special Topic Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7557-2
DOI :
10.1109/MCTE.2002.1175028