Genetically Controlled Syntheses of New Polymeric Materials

一个基础广泛的研究计划，旨在介绍 将分子生物学的工具应用到高分子材料科学中 将被执行。 聚合物的常规化学方法 合成固有地受到统计性质的限制， 聚合方法，并且因此常规聚合物 材料包括链的统计混合物。 的 纯聚合物材料的制备和聚合物的用途 在需要精确控制分子和 超分子结构，只能通过 引进新的合成方法。 意图营利 蛋白质生物合成的高保真度，加上最近的 基因合成、克隆和表达方面的进展， 用于制造精确限定的新型聚合物材料， 结构 重点将放在两类聚合物上- 同聚多肽和重复共聚肽， 他被认为对材料科学特别感兴趣。 的 以下将进行：i）合成人工 编码这种聚合物的基因，ii）在细菌宿主中的表达 iii）对感兴趣的聚合物的详细分析， 产物的分子和超分子结构。 两 材料问题（例如，固态结构和链 固体多肽构象）和生物学问题 (e.g.,遗传稳定性和表达水平）将在 工作的过程。 生物合成将是 辅以类似多肽的化学制剂 为了比较和对比这两种方法， 便于分离和结构表征 生物衍生产品。

A broadly based research program aimed at the introduction of the tools of molecular biology into polymer materials science will be carried out. Conventional chemical methods of polymer synthesis are inherently limited by the statistical nature of polymerization processes, and as a result conventional polymeric materials comprise statistical mixtures of chains. The preparation of pure polymeric materials, and the use of polymers in applications that require precise control of molecular and supramolecular structure, can be realized only through the introduction of new synthetic methods. The exploitation of the high fidelity of protein biosynthesis, coupled with recent advances in the synthesis, cloning and expression of genes, will be used to create new polymeric materials of precisely defined structure. The focus will be on two classes of polymers - homopolypeptides and repetitive copolypeptides - that are believed to be of special interest in materials science. The following will be carried out: i) the synthesis of artificial genes that encode such polymers,ii) expression in bacterial hosts of the polymers of interest, and iii) detailed analysis of the molecular and supramolecular structures of the products. Both materials issues (e.g., solid state structure and chain conformation in solid polypeptides) and biological questions (e.g., genetic stability and expression levels) will address in the course of the work. Biological syntheses will be complemented by chemical preparations of analogous polypeptides in order to compare and contrast the two approaches, and to facilitate isolation and structural characterization of the biologically-derived products.