title: Protein-based supramolecular polymers: progress and prospect.
abstract: Proteins are naturally evolved macromolecules with highly sophisticated structures and diverse properties. The design and controlled self-assembly of proteins into polymeric architectures via supramolecular interactions offers unique advantages in understanding the spontaneously self-organisational process and fabrication of various bioactive materials. This feature article highlights recent advances and future trends in supramolecular polymers that are directly assembled from the building blocks of proteins. Non-covalent interactions capable of inducing polymerization include aromatic π-π stacking, host-guest interactions, metal coordination, and interprotein interactions combined with site-selective protein modification to explore the dynamic and specific unidirectional aggregation behaviours among protein units. We also discuss some extended supramolecular protein polymers achieved by rational design and fine-tuning the protein-protein interactions, which may help to inspire future design of more complicated polymeric protein assemblies. The protein-based supramolecular polymer system provides a versatile platform for functionalization and thereby shows great potential in the development of novel biomaterials with controlled structures and properties.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China. Junqiuliu@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Zeyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Chunxi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Junqiu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011108:Polymers