Work

Mechanistic Insights into Silk Fibroin’s Adhesive Properties via Chemical Functionalization of Serine Side Chains

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: -derived silk fibroin (SF) has recently gained interest for its intrinsic or engineered adhesive properties. In a previous study by our group, the mechanism of the protein's intrinsic adhesiveness to biological substrates such as leather has been hypothesized to rely on hydrogen bond formation between amino acid side chains of SF and the substrate. In this study, the serine side chains of SF were chemically functionalized with substituents with different hydrogen bonding abilities. The effect of these changes on adhesion to leather was investigated along with protein structural assessments. The results confirm our hypothesis that adhesive interactions are mediated by hydrogen bonds and indicate that the length and nature of the side chains are important for both adhesion and secondary structure formation.

Source: ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering

DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01014

Authors: Cooper J. Love, Bogdan A. Serban, Takuya Katashima, Keiji Numata, Monica A. Serban

Institutions: University of Montana, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science

Language: English

Topic: Silk-based biomaterials and applications

Subfield: Biomaterials

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Award: Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics