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Superhydrophobic Surface Construction Based On Protein Assemblies And Their Application In Protein Crystallization

Posted on:2017-06-15Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:A T GaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:2351330512970385Subject:Physical chemistry
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Due to the unique wettability, superhydrophobic surfaces have demonstrated their great values in modern material science. Nonetheless, the development of such a strategy to fully satisfy the practical demands is still challenging, and new applications driven by superhydrophobic material is increasingly attractive to a wide range of science and engineering realms. Protein crystallization is extremely important in the field of structural biology and biomedicines. However, many proteins are not easy to get their crystals, and producing high-quality crystals with a higher chance of success remains a major bottleneck.We conceived a strategy to address the above consideration, and a facile production of superhydrophobic material in a green, energy-saving and low-cost process is achieved. The superhydrophobic modification is based on the micro/nano-scale densely packed network structure of phase-transited lysozyme. And the resultant protein-based superhydrophobic coatings could be used as a new platform towards protein crystallization.The research outline is as follows:(?) The construction of superhydrophobic phase-transited lysozyme coating on substratesIt is well known that hierarchical surface topographies at micro/nano-scale are critically important for the construction of superhydrophobic surfaces. We found that natural biological macromolecule, lysozyme, could be utilized as a new kind of material for the construction of superhydrophobic surfaces. Lysozyme, could undergo a phase transition under a stimulus from a disulfide breaker, tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) in an ambient aqueous solution. By controlling the phase transition process of lysozyme, the substrates would be covered by a structured phase-transited lysozyme coating. And the coating with micro/nano-scale particle network was effective enough to offer a superhydrophobicity after being further hydrophobized by low suface energy molecules. The superhydrophobic coating possessed a good mechanical stability towards external peeling and thermal resistance in the temperature range of-196-200? The method offered a new kind of proteinaceous material towards superhydrophobic modification.(II) Protein crystallization on the protein-based superhydrophobic surfacesThe superhydrophobic surfaces show good convergent concentration effect towards the evaporation process of solutes. Based on this effect, we have demonstrated the protein crystallization could be largely accelerated and facilitated on the protein-based superhydrophobic surface. It is found that such a surface was favorable to prepare protein crystals in large scale, low concentration and without the use of additional precipitation. Meanwhile, by combining the protein spotting and crystallization together on the superhydrophobic surface, a protein crystal array in large area was conveniently obtained. Since majority of proteins is difficult to crystallize, the present method to feasibly obtain protein crystals (array) is appealing. By introducing the combinational chemistry, highthroughput screening of protein crystallization conditions and further investigation on the crystallization of key proteins in biological process could be also expected. It is expected to open new fields in bio-based medicines, structural biology, opt-electronics and surface modifications.
Keywords/Search Tags:Superhydrophobic, Lysozyme, Protein-assembly, Surface modification, Protein crystallization
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