Force-induced α-β transitions in coiled coil structures (B17*)

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A large number of biological materials contain alpha-helical coiled coils. These structures undergo a transition into ß-sheets when strained. The goal of this project is to mechanistically understand this transition under the constraint of an applied shear force. For this purpose, natural and synthetic coiled coils will be investigated to characterize the transition at the single-molecule and ensemble level, when the coiled coils are inserted into a hydrogel. The results will shed new light on the mechanism and functional relevance of ß-sheet structure formation in biological materials.