Behavior of Protein-Inspired Synthetic Random Heteropolymers
Name
behavior-of-protein-inspired-synthetic-random-heteropolymers.pdf
Description
Submitted version
Size
5.43 MB
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Unknown
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Author(s)
Hilburg, Shayna L.
Ruan, Zhiyuan
Xu, Ting
Alexander-Katz, Alfredo
Date Issued
October 2020
Journal
Macromolecules
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Citation
Hilburg, Shayna L, Ruan, Zhiyuan, Xu, Ting and Alexander-Katz, Alfredo. 2020. "Behavior of Protein-Inspired Synthetic Random Heteropolymers." Macromolecules, 53 (21).
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
© Random heteropolymers (RHPs) are an interesting class of materials useful in many theories and applications. While previous studies typically focused on simplified RHP systems, here we explore a more complex scenario inspired by highly heterogeneous molecules like proteins. Our system consists of four monomers mimicking different classes of amino acids. Using molecular dynamics simulations and small-angle X-ray scattering, we explore dynamical and structural features of these RHPs in solution. Our results show that the RHPs assemble with heterogeneous interfaces reminiscent of protein surfaces. The polymer backbones appear frozen at room temperature on the nano- to microsecond timescale with a molten globule morphology, albeit their conformational space has multiple metastable conformations for a given sequence, drawing comparison to intrinsically disordered proteins. Local connectivity and chemistry are also shown to have a substantial impact on polymer solvation. The work presented here indicates that RHPs share similarities with proteins to be leveraged in biomimetic and bioinspired applications.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01886
