title: Controlling gelation with sequence: Towards programmable peptide hydrogels.
abstract: The self-assembling peptide IKHLSVN, inspired by inspection of a protein-protein interface, has previously been reported as one of a new class of bio-inspired peptides. Here the peptide, dubbed littleSven, and modifications designed to probe the resilience of the sequence to self-assembly, is characterised. Although the parent peptide did not form a hydrogel, small modifications to the sequence (one side chain or an N-terminus modification) led to hydrogels with properties (eg. gelation time and rheology) that could be tuned by these small alterations. The results suggest that peptides derived from protein-protein interfaces are resilient to changes in sequence and can be harnessed to form hydrogels with controlled properties.
  
  
  
  Natural occurring self-assembly peptides are attractive building blocks for engineered bionanomaterials due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. The bio-inspired self-assembly peptide, IKHLSVN, was used as a template to design peptides that readily formed hydrogels. The peptide sequence was specifically tuned to create a bionanomaterial with different properties that could be exploited downstream for a broad range of applications: nanowires, drug release, vaccine adjuvant, tissue engineering. We describe how small modifications to the parent peptide alter the amyloid-like characteristics and gel strength for each peptide.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, 23 Symonds St., Auckland 1010, New Zealand; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, 3A Symonds St., Auckland 1010, New Zealand; MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. Electronic address: k.medini@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Karima
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Medini
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Bradley W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Mansel
authors.affiliation: MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University, Wellington 6140, New Zealand; Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Martin A K
authors.initials: MAK
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, 23 Symonds St., Auckland 1010, New Zealand; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, 3A Symonds St., Auckland 1010, New Zealand; MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Margaret A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brimble
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, 23 Symonds St., Auckland 1010, New Zealand; MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, 23 Symonds St., Auckland 1010, New Zealand; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, 3A Symonds St., Auckland 1010, New Zealand; MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. Electronic address: j.gerrard@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Juliet A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gerrard
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D010455:Peptides
keywords: Amyloid-like fibre; Bionanomaterial; Diffusing wave spectroscopy; Hydrogels; Self-assembling peptide