A phenomenological description of BslA assemblies across multiple length scales.
A phenomenological description of BslA assemblies across multiple length scales.
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DOI：
10.1098/rsta.2015.0131
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发表时间：
2016-07-28
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
MacPhee CE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Morris RJ;Bromley KM;Stanley-Wall N;MacPhee CE
由于其在一系列材料应用中的潜在用途，具有内在界面活性的蛋白质最近引起了人们的极大兴趣。值得注意的是，真菌疏水蛋白形成坚固和组织良好的表层，具有很高的机械强度。最近的研究表明，细菌生物膜蛋白BslA也在界面上形成了高度弹性的表面层。在这里，我们描述了几种由BslA形成的自组装结构，无论是在界面上还是在本体溶液中，都跨越了从纳米到毫米的长度范围。首先，我们观察到在搅拌的BslA样品中形成了瞬时稳定和高度拉长的气泡。我们研究了它们在一系列溶液条件下的行为，并假设它们的消散是BslA在空气-水界面上缓慢吸附动力学的结果。其次，我们描述了在朗缪尔槽和流变仪中同时施加剪应力时，BslA界面膜形成的细长管状物。这些结构与搅拌过程中形成的细长气泡有着惊人的相似之处，尽管规模要大得多。综上所述，这些知识将更好地了解BslA如何用于多相材料的稳定化的条件和应用。本文是主题为“软界面材料：从基础到配方”的一部分。
Intrinsically interfacially active proteins have garnered considerable interest recently owing to their potential use in a range of materials applications. Notably, the fungal hydrophobins are known to form robust and well-organized surface layers with high mechanical strength. Recently, it was shown that the bacterial biofilm protein BslA also forms highly elastic surface layers at interfaces. Here we describe several self-assembled structures formed by BslA, both at interfaces and in bulk solution, over a range of length scales spanning from nanometres to millimetres. First, we observe transiently stable and highly elongated air bubbles formed in agitated BslA samples. We study their behaviour in a range of solution conditions and hypothesize that their dissipation is a consequence of the slow adsorption kinetics of BslA to an air–water interface. Second, we describe elongated tubules formed by BslA interfacial films when shear stresses are applied in both a Langmuir trough and a rheometer. These structures bear a striking resemblance, although much larger in scale, to the elongated air bubbles formed during agitation. Taken together, this knowledge will better inform the conditions and applications of how BslA can be used in the stabilization of multi-phase materials. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Soft interfacial materials: from fundamentals to formulation’.