Development of novel peptide-polymer hybrids for the design of artificial spider silk

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Spider silk protein is a self-assembling biopolymer and shows exceptional physical characteristics based on its unique nanostructure. In this study, we designed and synthesized various types of peptide-polymer hybrids such as block-type and graft-type, at which β-sheet-formable oligopeptides were incorporated into conventional synthetic polymers, to create artificial spider silk. These hybrid polymers were found to self-assemble into spider silk-like β-sheet network structure in aqueous media depending on the amino acid sequences of peptide domains and environmental factors. Transparent films were successfully obtained by casting from solutions of these hybrids. The higher order structures and mechanical properties of these films were also examined in detail.