title: Metal Ion-Induced Self-Assembly of a Multi-Responsive Block Copolypeptide into Well-Defined Nanocapsules.
abstract: Protein cages are an interesting class of biomaterials with potential applications in bionanotechnology. Therefore, substantial effort is spent on the development of capsule-forming designer polypeptides with a tailor-made assembly profile. The expanded assembly profile of a triblock copolypeptide consisting of a metal ion chelating hexahistidine-tag, a stimulus-responsive elastin-like polypeptide block, and a pH-responsive morphology-controlling viral capsid protein is presented. The self-assembly of this multi-responsive protein-based block copolymer is triggered by the addition of divalent metal ions. This assembly process yields monodisperse nanocapsules with a 20 nm diameter composed of 60 polypeptides. The well-defined nanoparticles are the result of the emergent properties of all the blocks of the polypeptide. These results demonstrate the feasibility of hexahistidine-tags to function as supramolecular cross-linkers. Furthermore, their potential for the metal ion-mediated encapsulation of hexahistidine-tagged proteins is shown.
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mark B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: van Eldijk
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schoonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Nanotechnology, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500, AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jeroen J L M
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cornelissen
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Roeland J M
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nolte
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan C M
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: van Hest
mesh_terms: D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry; D002413:Cations, Divalent; D006639:Histidine / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008027:Light; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053769:Nanocapsules / Q000737:chemistry*; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002413:Cations, Divalent; C471213:His-His-His-His-His-His; D008670:Metals; D053769:Nanocapsules; D009842:Oligopeptides; D014764:Viral Proteins; D006639:Histidine
keywords: block copolypeptides; elastin-like polypeptides; protein nanocapsules; self-assembly; virus-like particles