Issue 22, 2014

Designed peptides for biomineral polymorph recognition: a case study for calcium carbonate

Abstract

With their unique ability for substrate recognition and their sequence-specific self-assembly properties, peptides play an important role in controlling the mineralization of inorganic materials in natural systems and in controlling the assembly of soft materials into complex structures required for biological functions. Here we report the use of an engineered heptapeptide that can differentiate between the crystalline anhydrous polymorphs of calcium carbonate. This peptide contains the positively charged amino acid arginine as well as proline rather than the prototypical negatively charged aspartate or glutamate units. Its affinity to vaterite compared to aragonite was demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy using biotinylated peptides. Crystallization experiments in the presence of the vaterite-affine peptide afforded only vaterite, whereas a mutant peptide, where a proline residue was replaced by glycine, exclusively leads to the formation of calcite.

Graphical abstract: Designed peptides for biomineral polymorph recognition: a case study for calcium carbonate

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Jan 2014
Accepted
21 Mar 2014
First published
25 Mar 2014

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014,2, 3511-3518

Author version available

Designed peptides for biomineral polymorph recognition: a case study for calcium carbonate

T. Schüler, J. Renkel, S. Hobe, M. Susewind, D. E. Jacob, M. Panthöfer, A. Hoffmann-Röder, H. Paulsen and W. Tremel, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2, 3511 DOI: 10.1039/C4TB00160E

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