A Switch Controlling Biomolecular Reconfigurability
Abstract
The dynamically adaptive tunability of color and brightness of light reflected from cells in the squid s epithelium exceeds the present capabilities of our best reconfigurable synthetic materials. The PI and his students recently discovered the molecular and cellular mechanisms governing this tunability, revealing the workings of a remarkable protein-based molecular machine that drives this biophotonic tunability. In biophysical terms, the protein-based machine drives an osmotic motor that simultaneously regulates the refractive index and lattice dimensions of a Bragg diffraction grating. Professor Morse s group discovered that neurotransmitter-induced phosphorylation of the reflectin proteins acts by charge-neutralization of the proteins to trigger structural condensation, which consequently leads to the emergence of previously cryptic, stereospecific Velcro-like hydrophobic domains that subsequently drive condensation and hierarchical assembly, thereby driving the increase in refractive index and dehydration of the membrane-bounded compa1tments of the Bragg lamellae containing the reflectins to activate reflectance and progressively tune its color (1-8), but the specific nature of the neutralization-activated switch remains unknown. We aim through a combination of novel genomic, computational, genetic engineering and advanced imaging (including both single molecule cryo-TEM tomography and advanced CD spectroscopy, in concert with dynamic light scattering and other experimental analyses, to identify the molecular elements of this switch and its detailed mechanism of action, and in the final year of our proposed effort, demonstrate that it can be harnessed to make non-tunable proteins tunably switchable. No other research on this or related systems approach the level of these studies or their potential for translation to the control of synthetic materials. 10
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 07, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1710160
Entities
People
- Daniel E Morse
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of California, Santa Barbara