Complete Sequences of the Velvet Worm Slime Proteins Reveal that Slime Formation is Enabled by Disulfide Bonds and Intrinsically Disordered Regions.

ABSTRACT: The slime of velvet worms (Onychophora) is a strong and fully biodegradable protein material, which upon ejection undergoes a fast liquid-to-solid transition to ensnare prey. However, the molecular mechanisms of slime self-assembly are still not well understood, notably because the primary structures of slime proteins are yet unknown. Combining transcriptomic and proteomic studies, the authors have obtained the complete primary sequences of slime proteins and identified key features for slime self-assembly. The high molecular weight slime proteins contain cysteine residues at the N- and C-termini that mediate the formation of multi-protein complexes via disulfide bonding. Low complexity domains in the N-termini are also identified and their propensity for liquid-liquid phase separation is

SUBMITTER: Lu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9218773 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature