Work

Enhanced surface hydrophobicity in the combined treatment of chaplins and rodlins from Streptomyces griseus

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Many microorganisms depend on their hydrophobic hyphal surfaces to grow into the air and disperse their spores. In Streptomyces species, this property is conferred by chaplin and rodlin proteins. In the present study, we examined the potential of chaplins and rodlins from Streptomyces griseus IFO 13350, focusing on their contributions to surface hydrophobicity. In vitro assays with recombinant chaplins (ChpC and ChpH) and rodlins (RdlA and RdlB) demonstrated that ChpH alone increased the hydrophobicity of glass slides. The combination of ChpH with RdlA/RdlB enhanced water repellency, yielding a contact angle of 66.7 ± 2.6°, which was significantly greater than that of either ChpH or RdlA/RdlB alone. The long chaplin, ChpC, did not show such an enhancement with RdlA/RdlB. Gene disruption experiments supported the assumption that short chaplin ChpH plays a dominant role in generating hydrophobic surfaces and acts cooperatively with RdlA and/or RdlB to produce strongly water-repellent surfaces. We showed that hydrophobicity can be maintained even in the absence of rodlet structures, highlighting the flexibility of the chaplin–rodlin system. Based on these findings, we propose a hypothetical model in which rodlins act as molecular scaffolds that align short-chaplin fibrils into ordered rodlet arrays, thereby amplifying surface hydrophobicity. This study also suggests that chaplins in combination with rodlins have potential as effective additives for surface hydrophobicity.

Source: Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-76411-1