Building block aspect ratio controls assembly, architecture, and mechanics of synthetic and natural protein networks.

ABSTRACT: Fibrous networks constructed from high aspect ratio protein building blocks are ubiquitous in nature. Despite this ubiquity, the functional advantage of such building blocks over globular proteins is not understood. To answer this question, we engineered hydrogel network building blocks with varying numbers of protein L domains to control the aspect ratio. The mechanical and structural properties of photochemically crosslinked protein L networks were then characterised using shear rheology and small angle neutron scattering. We show that aspect ratio is a crucial property that defines network architecture and mechanics, by shifting the formation from translationally diffusion dominated to rotationally diffusion dominated. Additionally, we demonstrate that a similar transition is observed i

SUBMITTER: Hughes MDG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10495373 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature