Research Update: Programmable tandem repeat proteins inspired by squid ring teeth

Abdon Pena-Francesch,Benjamin Barbu,Melik C Demirel,Benjamin D Allen,Mert Vural,Yusuke Kikuchi,Huihun Jung,Natalia E Domeradzka

doi:10.1063/1.4985755

Abstract

Cephalopods have evolved many interesting features that can serve as inspiration. Repetitive squid ring teeth (SRT) proteins from cephalopods exhibit properties such as strength, self-healing, and biocompatibility. These proteins have been engineered to design novel adhesives, self-healing textiles, and the assembly of 2d-layered materials. Compared to conventional polymers, repetitive proteins are easy to modify and can assemble in various morphologies and molecular architectures. This research update discusses the molecular biology and materials science of polypeptides inspired by SRT proteins, their properties, and perspectives for future applications.

Highlights

The mysterious world of underwater creatures has fascinated scientists for centuries
The beak and squid ring teeth (SRT) have attracted the interest of materials engineers due to their unique composite structure and extreme toughness.[8]
Self-assembling proteins are valuable building blocks allowing the construction of materials with versatile chemical properties and functions based on their tertiary and quaternary protein structures.[17,18]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The mysterious world of underwater creatures has fascinated scientists for centuries. Composition of SRT proteins have been known since the 1970’s,7 they recently gained attention of several research groups, including ours, due to their unique behavior. We are exploring both native and recombinant SRT proteins and their biosynthetic variants in order to fabricate materials with tunable properties such as extensibility, stiffness, tensile strength, toughness, conductivity, optical transparency, and self-healing abilities.[11,12,13] These materials are highly desirable for wound dressing, electronic devices, adhesives, optics, sensors, and many more high-tech applications.[14,15,16]. We present recent progress concerning the production of recombinant SRT proteins and SRT-based tandem repeat polypeptides, with a view toward material fabrication and potential applications

PRODUCTION OF RECOMBINANT AND SYNTHETIC SRT PROTEINS

TANDEM REPEAT PROTEINS DESIGN

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SRT BASED MATERIALS

Findings

PROCESSING AND APPLICATIONS OF SRT BASED BIOMATERIALS