β-Sheet Structure Formation within Binary Blends of Two Spider Silk Related Peptides

Biomacromolecules. 2023 Feb 13;24(2):825-840. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.2c01266. Epub 2023 Jan 12.

Abstract

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) play an important role in molecular biology and medicine because their induced folding can lead to so-called conformational diseases, where β-amyloids play an important role. Still, the molecular folding process into the different substructures, such as parallel/antiparallel or extended β-sheet/crossed β-sheet is not fully understood. The recombinant spider silk protein eADF4(Cx) consisting of repeating modules C, which are composed of a crystalline (pep-c) and an amorphous peptide sequence (pep-a), can be used as a model system for IDP since it can assemble into similar structures. In this work, blend films of the pep-c and pep-a sequences were investigated to modulate the β-sheet formation by varying the molar fraction of pep-c and pep-a. Dichroic Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), circular dichroism, spectroscopic ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, and IR nanospectroscopy were used to examine the secondary structure, the formation of parallel and antiparallel β-sheets, their orientation, and the microscopic roughness and phase formation within peptide blend films upon methanol post-treatment. New insights into the formation of filament-like structures in these silk blend films were obtained. Filament-like structures could be locally assigned to β-sheet-rich structures. Further, the antiparallel or parallel character and the orientation of the formed β-sheets could be clearly determined. Finally, the ideal ratio of pep-a and pep-c sequences found in the fibroin 4 of the major ampullate silk of spiders could also be rationalized by comparing the blend and spider silk protein systems.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Fibroins* / chemistry
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Protein Conformation, beta-Strand
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Silk / chemistry
  • Spiders*

Substances

  • Silk
  • Peptides
  • Fibroins
  • Recombinant Proteins