Biointerface Structural Effects on the Properties and Applications of Bioinspired Peptide-Based Nanomaterials

Abstract

Peptide sequences are known to recognize and bind different nanomaterial surfaces, which has resulted in the screening and identification of hundreds of peptides with the ability to bind to a wide range of metallic, metal oxide, mineral, and polymer substrates. These biomolecules are able to bind to materials with relatively high affinity, resulting in the generation of a complex biointerface between the biotic and abiotic components. While the number of material-binding sequences is large, at present, quantitative materials-binding characterization of these peptides has been accomplished only for a relatively small number of sequences. Moreover, it is currently very challenging to determine the molecular-level structure(s) of these peptides in the materials adsorbed state. Despite this lack of data related to the structure and function of this remarkable biointerface, several of these peptide sequences have found extensive use in creating functional nanostructured materials for assembly, catalysis, energy, and medicine, all of which are dependent on the structure of the individual peptides and collective biointerface at the material surface. In this Review, we provide a comprehensive overview of these applications and illustrate how the versatility of this peptide-mediated approach for the growth, organization, and activation of nanomaterials could be more widely expanded via the elucidation of biointerfacial structure/property relationships. Future directions and grand challenges to realize these goals are highlighted for both experimental characterization and molecular-simulation strategies.

Generating Cyan Fluorescence with De Novo Tripeptides: An In Vitro Mutation Study on the Role of Single Amino Acid Residues and Their Sequence

“…In contrast, the spectra of the G and K monomers did not show any detectable fluorescence, while the tyrosine monomer showed fluorescence at 440 nm, similar to the physical mixture of glycine, tyrosine, and lysine monomers (G‐Y‐K) with the same molar ratios as the synthesized GYK molecule (Figure B). In accord with most peptide‐assembled nanostructures being concentration‐dependent, the GYK tripeptide showed a significant increase in fluorescence as the concentration increased. However, its absorbance decreased and remained constant at concentrations greater than 2.0 mg mL −1 (Figure C, Figure S1 in the Supporting Information).…”

Peptide Nanomaterials Designed from Natural Supramolecular Systems

“…Peptides in particular are ideal building blocks because of the high designability using natural and non‐natural amino acids, self‐assembly, and molecular recognition capability. The high affinity of peptides to target molecules can be used to create hybrid nanomaterials consisting of peptides and organic/inorganic materials such as metal nanoparticles and polymers . Importantly, naturally derived peptides that are extracted and rationally designed from the parts of natural proteins potentially retain their original functions, such as structural scaffolding, self‐assembling, and molecular recognition capabilities ,.…”

“…The high affinity of peptides to target molecules can be used to create hybrid nanomaterials consisting of peptides and organic/ inorganic materials such as metal nanoparticles and polymers. [21] Importantly, naturally derived peptides that are extracted and rationally designed from the parts of natural proteins potentially retain their original functions, such as structural scaffolding, self-assembling, and molecular recognition capabilities. [22,23] For instance, widely studied cell adhesion motifs such as RGD and IKVAV are derived from the adhesion proteins fibronectin and laminin, respectively.…”

A Self‐Assembling Two‐Dimensional Protein Array is a Versatile Platform for the Assembly of Multicomponent Nanostructures

“…Third, projecting – and likely insertionally permissive – loops are available on one of the faces of the array, while the N‐ and C‐termini lie on the other side and appear to be solvent‐accessible. Modification of these loci by genetic fusion of solid‐binding peptides (SBPs), or other functional moieties should allow for efficient capture and organization of additional colloidal elements on array surfaces, opening the door to a broad range of applications in catalysis, photonics, and sensing, and enabling the fabrication of layered organic/inorganic materials …”

“…Third, projectingand likely insertionally permissiveloops are available on one of the faces of the array, while the N-and C-termini lie on the other side and appear to be solvent-accessible. Modification of these loci by genetic fusion of solid-binding peptides (SBPs), [29][30][31][32] or other functional moieties should allow for efficient capture and organization of additional colloidal elements on array surfaces, opening the door to a broad range of applications in catalysis, photonics, and sensing, and enabling the fabrication of layered organic/inorganic materials. [13][14][15][16] Here, we report on the further engineering of the TTM building block with a hexahistidine tag to couple 2D arrays to Ni-NTA beads, a SBP sequence to conjugate gold nanoparticles to the array surface, and a biotinylation tag to organize avidin at controllable densities onto co-assembled 2D lattices.…”