Mapping the Energy Landscape of Repetitive Structural Proteins

Abstract

We have the goal of producing libraries of new synthetic repetitive proteins with very precise crystalline and amorphous regions to discover novel proteins that have ultra strong mechanical properties. To achieve this goal, we propose to elucidate the relationship between protein sequence, structure and resulting material properties using a high throughput approach. We propose to (i) study gene libraries of repetitive proteins using a label free high throughput technique and (ii) understand the relationship between repetitive protein sequence and structure. We will achieve the proposed goal by investigating three fundamental questions: (i) what is the underlying sequence structure relationship for protein assembly? (ii)what is the complete set of fiber forming proteins, given that only few have been discovered up to date (e.g. Silk, SRT, resilin, elastin)?; and (iii) how can we uncover new fiber forming genes in bacterial targets? The proposed approach will generate fundamental knowledge about fiber-promoting genes and their sequence-structure-property relations.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Feb 14, 2019
Source ID
W911NF1810261

Entities

People

  • Melik Demirel

Organizations

  • Army Contracting Command
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • United States Army

Tags

Readers

  • Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
  • Molecular and genetic basis of cancer.
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science