Stimulus-responsive hydrogels are being increasingly developed for applications including  drug delivery, tissue engineering and biosensors.  We have developed a peptide that forms a calcium-dependent hydrogel using a rationally engineered beta roll peptide.  In the absence of calcium, the peptide is intrinsically disordered.  Upon addition of calcium, the peptide forms a corkscrew-like structure.  We have mutated one face of the beta roll to contain leucines, so that structural formation will enable dimerization. We have added a leucine zipper forming helical domain to the engineered beta roll and we have shown that these  constructs are able to form hydrogels by physical crosslinking in calcium rich environments.  The structural properties of the mutant beta roll have been compared to the wild type by circular dichroism, bis-ANS binding and terbium binding.  The elastic and viscous moduli of the hydrogels have been measured at various calcium concentrations using a particle tracking technique.

Development of an engineered beta roll motif for the creation of stimulus-responsive proteinaceous hydrogels

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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