title: Water-Floating Giant Nanosheets from Helical Peptide Pentamers.
abstract: One of the important challenges in the development of protein-mimetic materials is understanding the sequence-specific assembly behavior and dynamic folding change. Conventional strategies for constructing two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures from peptides have been limited to using β-sheet forming sequences as building blocks due to their natural tendency to form sheet-like aggregations. We have identified a peptide sequence (YFCFY) that can form dimers via a disulfide bridge, fold into a helix, and assemble into macroscopic flat sheets at the air/water interface. Due to the large driving force for 2D assembly and high elastic modulus of the resulting sheet, the peptide assembly induces flattening of the initially round water droplet. Additionally, we found that stabilization of the helix by dimerization is a key determinant for maintaining macroscopic flatness over a few tens of centimeters even with a uniform thickness of <10 nm. Furthermore, the ability to transfer the sheets from a water droplet to another substrate allows for multiple stacking of 2D peptide nanostructures, suggesting possible applications in biomimetic catalysis, biosensors, and 2D related electronic devices.
authors: Jaehun
authors: J
authors: Lee
authors: Ik Rang
authors: IR
authors: Choe
authors: Korea Advanced Analysis Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) , Seoul, 136-791, Korea.
authors: Nak-Kyoon
authors: NK
authors: Kim
authors: Korea Advanced Analysis Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) , Seoul, 136-791, Korea.
authors: Won-Je
authors: WJ
authors: Kim
authors: Hyung-Seok
authors: HS
authors: Jang
authors: Yoon-Sik
authors: YS
authors: Lee
authors: Ki Tae
authors: KT
authors: Nam
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002384:Catalysis; D049329:Nanostructures; D010455:Peptides; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D014867:Water
keywords: biomaterials; disulfide bond; helix; peptide; self-assembly; two-dimensional materials