Tracking morphologies at the nanoscale: self-assembly of an amphiphilic designer peptide into a double helix superstructure.
Hierarchical self-assembly is a fundamental principle in nature, which gives rise to astonishing supramolecular architectures that offer an inspiration for the development of innovative materials in nanotechnology. Here we present the unique structure of a cone-shaped amphiphilic designer peptide. When tracking its concentration-dependent morphologies, we observed elongated bilayered single tapes at the beginning of the assembly process, which further developed into novel double-helix-like superstructures at increased concentrations. This architecture is characterized by a tight intertwisting of two individual helices, resulting in a periodic pitch size over their total lengths of several hundred nanometers. Solution X-ray scattering data revealed a marked 2-layered internal organization. All these characteristics remained unaltered for the investigated period of almost three months. In their collective morphology the assemblies are integrated into a network with hydrogel characteristics. Such a peptide based structure holds promise for a building block of next-generation nanostructured biomaterials.
Institute of Biophysics, Medical University of Graz, BioTechMed-Graz, 8042 Graz, Austria.
Karin
K
Kornmueller
Institute for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis, Graz University of Technology and Graz Centre for Electron Microscopy, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Ilse
I
Letofsky-Papst
Institute of Biophysics, Medical University of Graz, BioTechMed-Graz, 8042 Graz, Austria.
Kerstin
K
Gradauer
Institute of Biophysics, Medical University of Graz, BioTechMed-Graz, 8042 Graz, Austria.
Christian
C
Mikl
Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Fernando
F
Cacho-Nerin
Institute of Organic Chemistry, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Mario
M
Leypold
Institute for Molecular Biosciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Walter
W
Keller
Research Unit Electron Microscopic Techniques, Institute of Cell Biology, Histology and Embryology, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria ; Center for Medical Research, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Gerd
G
Leitinger
Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Heinz
H
Amenitsch
Institute of Biophysics, Medical University of Graz, BioTechMed-Graz, 8042 Graz, Austria.
Ruth
R
Prassl
Double helix; SAXS; TEM; amphiphilic designer peptide; self-assembly; spectroscopy