Artificial Peptide-Nanospheres Self-Assembled from Three-Way Junctions of beta-Sheet-Forming Peptides

摘要

Self-assembly of proteins such as formation of viruses,flagella,microtubules,actin fibers,and amyloid fibrils plays pivotal roles in biology.Rational design of such protein nano-assemblies will give new applications not only in biotechnology but also in nanotechnology.To date,fibrous peptide assemblies have been designed based on the formation of beta-sheets and leucine zippers.On the other hand,formation of spherical assemblies are limited to the oil-/water-templated protein aggregates,self-assemblies of amphiphilic peptides,aromatic dipeptides,and beta-amyloid 1-40 peptides.These spherical assemblies are less exquisite compared to the self-assembly of symmetric capsids in spherical viruses.