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Multi-hierarchical self-assembly of a collagen mimetic peptide from triple helix to nanofibre and hydrogel

Nature Chemistry volume 3, pages 821–828 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Replicating the multi-hierarchical self-assembly of collagen has long-attracted scientists, from both the perspective of the fundamental science of supramolecular chemistry and that of potential biomedical applications in tissue engineering. Many approaches to drive the self-assembly of synthetic systems through the same steps as those of natural collagen (peptide chain to triple helix to nanofibres and, finally, to a hydrogel) are partially successful, but none simultaneously demonstrate all the levels of structural assembly. Here we describe a peptide that replicates the self-assembly of collagen through each of these steps. The peptide features collagen's characteristic proline–hydroxyproline–glycine repeating unit, complemented by designed salt-bridged hydrogen bonds between lysine and aspartate to stabilize the triple helix in a sticky-ended assembly. This assembly is propagated into nanofibres with characteristic triple helical packing and lengths with a lower bound of several hundred nanometres. These nanofibres form a hydrogel that is degraded by collagenase at a similar rate to that of natural collagen.

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Figure 1: Self-assembly of collagen type I compared to that of collagen mimetic peptides.
Figure 2: Models of electrostatic interactions between charged amino acids in collagen mimetic peptides.
Figure 3: Spectroscopy graphs illustrating the triple helical nature of the designed collagen mimetic peptide.
Figure 4: Microscopy images of (Pro-Lys-Gly)4(Pro-Hyp-Gly)4(Asp-Hyp-Gly)4 that show the fibrillar assembly of the system in phosphate buffer.
Figure 5: Rheology of the collagen-like peptide that demonstrates the temperature-dependent strength of the hydrogel.
Figure 6: Proposed mechanism of fibre self-assembly.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded in part by National Science Foundation CAREER Award (DMR-0645474), the Robert A. Welch Foundation (Grant No. C1557) and the Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program of Texas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Chemistry and Bioengineering Rice University, Houston, 77005, Texas, USA

    Lesley E. R. O'Leary, Jorge A. Fallas, Erica L. Bakota, Marci K. Kang & Jeffrey D. Hartgerink

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  1. Lesley E. R. O'Leary
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  2. Jorge A. Fallas
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Contributions

L.E.R.O. designed and performed the experiments (except SEM and fibre diffraction) and co-wrote the manuscript. J.A.F. performed and analysed fibre-diffraction experiments. E.L.B. performed the SEM experiments. M.K.K. performed the collagenase experiments. J.D.H. supervised the research, evaluated all the data and co-wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jeffrey D. Hartgerink.

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O'Leary, L., Fallas, J., Bakota, E. et al. Multi-hierarchical self-assembly of a collagen mimetic peptide from triple helix to nanofibre and hydrogel. Nature Chem 3, 821–828 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1123

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