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Origins of structural flexibility in protein-based supramolecular polymers revealed by DEER spectroscopy.

Author
Abstract
:

Modular assembly of bio-inspired supramolecular polymers is a powerful technique to develop new soft nanomaterials, and protein folding is a versatile basis for preparing such materials. Previous work demonstrated a significant difference in the physical properties of closely related supramolecular polymers composed of building blocks in which identical coiled-coil-forming peptides are cross-linked by one of two subtly different organic linkers (one flexible and the other rigid). Herein, we investigate the molecular basis for this observation by isolating a single subunit of the supramolecular polymer chain and probing its structure and conformational flexibility by double electron-electron resonance (DEER) spectroscopy. Experimental spin-spin distance distributions for two different labeling sites coupled with molecular dynamics simulations provide insights into how the linker structure impacts chain dynamics in the coiled-coil supramolecular polymer.

Year of Publication
:
2014
Journal
:
The journal of physical chemistry. B
Volume
:
118
Issue
:
33
Number of Pages
:
9881-9
Date Published
:
2014
ISSN Number
:
1520-6106
URL
:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp505643w
DOI
:
10.1021/jp505643w
Short Title
:
J Phys Chem B
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