title: The assembly of C. elegans lamins into macroscopic fibers.
abstract: Intermediate filament (IF) proteins are known mainly by their propensity to form viscoelastic filamentous networks within cells. In addition, IF-proteins are essential parts of various biological materials, such as horn and hagfish slime threads, which exhibit a range of mechanical properties from hard to elastic. These properties and their self-assembly nature made IF-proteins attractive building blocks for biomimetic and biological materials in diverse applications. Here we show that a type V IF-protein, the Caenorhabditis elegans nuclear lamin (Ce-lamin), is a promising building block for protein-based fibers. Electron cryo-tomography of vitrified sections enabled us to depict the higher ordered assembly of the Ce-lamin into macroscopic fibers through the creation of paracrystalline fibers, which are prominent in vitro structures of lamins. The lamin fibers respond to tensile force as other IF-protein-based fibers, i.e., hagfish slime threads, and possess unique mechanical properties that may potentially be used in certain applications. The self-assembly nature of lamin proteins into a filamentous structure, which is further assembled into a complex network, can be easily modulated. This knowledge may lead to a better understanding of the relationship in IF-proteins-based fibers and materials, between their hierarchical structures and their mechanical properties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Ben-Gurion Av. 1, 8410501 Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zingerman-Koladko
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, SCE - Shamoon College of Engineering, Jabotinsky 84, 77245 Ashdod, Israel.
authors.forename: Maayan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khayat
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harapin
authors.affiliation: The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Science and Genetics in Agriculture, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, 7612001 Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Oded
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shoseyov
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Edmond J. Safra Campus - Givat Ram, 9190401 Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Yosef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gruenbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiscs, SCE - Shamoon College of Engineering, Bialik, 84100 Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salman
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Ben-Gurion Av. 1, 8410501 Beer-Sheva, Israel; Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ohad
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Medalia
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, SCE - Shamoon College of Engineering, Jabotinsky 84, 77245 Ashdod, Israel. Electronic address: kfirb@sce.ac.il.
authors.forename: Kfir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ben-Harush
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D034882:Lamins / Q000737:chemistry*; D034881:Nuclear Lamina / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D034882:Lamins
keywords: Biological fibers; Electron cryo-tomography; Intermediate filaments; Nuclear lamins; Stress–strain properties