Self-Assembly of Stimuli-Responsive Biohybrid Synthetic-b-Recombinant Block Copolypeptides

Abstract

The synthesis and original thermoresponsive behavior of hybrid diblock copolypeptides composed of synthetic and recombinant polypeptides are herein reported. A thermoresponsive recombinant elastin-like polypeptide was used as macroinitiator to synthesize a range of poly(L-glutamic acid)-block-elastin-like polypeptide (PGlu-b-ELP) diblock copolypeptides with variable PGlu block lengths. Their temperature-triggered self-assembly in water and in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was investigated at the macroscopic scale using complementary techniques such as turbidimetry, dynamic and static light scattering, small-angle

Intermicellar Polymerization and Intramicellar Cyclization: A Supramolecular Ring–Chain Competition Reaction

“…The signal at 200–230 nm is attributed to the right-handed α-helix conformation of PBLG segments. The region at 230–280 nm represents the chiral arrangement of the pendant phenyl groups on the PBLG backbones. − The positive band at 230–280 nm indicates a shrunken left-handed arrangement, and the negative signal corresponds to a loosely packed right-handed arrangement. − With increasing temperature, the intensity of the positive signals of pendant phenyl groups around 230 nm gradually increases (see the arrow in Figure f), and the peaks shift toward the shorter wavelengths. This indicates that higher temperatures enhance the left-handed arrangement of pendant groups, that is, the packing manner of pendant groups becomes more ordered.…”

Genetically Encoded Inverse Bolaamphiphiles

“…ELPs are a class of peptide–polymers that are derived from the consensus sequence of tropoelastin (Gly-Xaa-Gly-Val-Pro), in which the guest residue (Xaa) can be any amino acid other than Pro . These polypeptides exhibit a well-characterized lower critical solubility temperature (LCST) behavior, in which they undergo temperature-triggered liquid–liquid phase separation and become insoluble in water. − This LCST behavior can be tuned at the molecular level by changing the identity of the guest residue or the number of pentapeptide repeats. , Due to this genetically tunable sequence and phase behavior, ELPs have been used in numerous biomedical and material science applications. − …”

Designing peptide nanoparticles for efficient brain delivery

“…Polypeptides with more complex amino acid sequences can yield more controlled selfassembly behaviour than 'simpler' diblock copolypeptides [27,90,107]. ELPs, initially described by Urry and co-workers [108,109], are based on the pentamer sequence VPGXG, where X represents a guest residue and can be any amino acid except proline.…”