A Minimalist Peptide Elastomer

Project Information

MINIRES

Grant agreement ID: 789815

DOI

10.3030/789815

Project closed

EC signature date 9 March 2018

Start date 1 April 2018

End date 30 September 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 150 000,00

EU contribution

€ 150 000,00

Coordinated by

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MINIRES (A Minimalist Peptide Elastomer)

Reporting period: 2018-04-01 to 2019-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

We have engineered a conserved sequence of Resilin Exon-1, i.e. the polymeric rubber-like protein with outstanding elasticity that is critical in the flight and jumping systems of insects. The sequence SDSYGAP, a heptapeptide, has been modified by biomimetic bromination at both the positions ortho to the phenol moiety of the central tyrosine. The brominated peptide shows the emergence of a viscoelastic behavior that resembles that of the full protein but is not observed in the wild-type peptide. Bromination promotes an increased β-sheet organization of the peptide in solution resulting in the formation of fibrils that can be pulled with high resilience and form a dense hydrogel. The peptide synthesis has been scaled up to the 10-gram scale at a cost that is estimated to be around 100 times less than the full protein. Biological testing showed high biocompatibility of the engineered peptide, which, furthermore, was found to possess an extremely high anti-oxidant activity. Electrospinning experiments have demonstrated that the peptide solutions can be spun into a dense mat of micrometric fibrils paving the way towards engineering resilin-like macroscopic scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Applications in cosmetics, micro- and nano-robotics, as well as adhesives and elastomers are also envisaged.