title: Small globular protein motif forms particulate hydrogel under various pH conditions.
abstract: Biocompatible hydrogels have great potentials in biomedical and biotechnological applications. In the current study, we reported a new naturally occurring protein motif that formed a transparent hydrogel when heated to 90 °C at a concentration as low as 0.4 mg/mL. The protein motif is the C-terminal soluble domain of an Escherichia coli inner membrane protein YajC (YajC-CT). We investigated the conformational change and self-assembly of the protein that lead to the formation of hydrogels using multiple methods. Atomic force microscopy studies of dilute gel samples revealed the presence of β-sheet-rich fibrils that were 2 to 3 nm in height and micrometers in length, which appeared to originate from homogeneous particles. On the basis of these observations, we proposed a three-step pathway of YajC-CT gelation. Hydrogels formed at different pH contained slightly different fibril structures. To our knowledge, this is the smallest hydrogel-forming globular protein module that has been characterized in detail. It may be useful as a model system in the elucidation of the mechanisms of protein fibrillation and gelation processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, United States.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Xiaoning
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yuguang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Yinan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D006358:Hot Temperature; D020100:Hydrogels; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D011506:Proteins