Manufacturing High Performance Wearable De Novo Polypeptide Fabrics

高性能纤维和合成纤维在工业和消费品中大量使用。它们是从石化原料中生产的，很少可生物降解。虽然有些原则上是可回收的，但洗衣作业会导致微塑料污染不受控制地释放到环境中，包括海洋。天然纤维，如棉花，对土地和水的使用有很大的需求，并且机械性能有限。该项目将开发一种全新的方法来制造纤维，方法是从微生物发酵产生的设计蛋白中纺制纤维。由此产生的材料将是可持续的、可生物降解的和可再加工的。蛋白质是由氨基酸的精确序列组成的大的天然分子；它们在所有已知的生命形式中发挥着重要的结构和功能作用。特定的原子结构意味着蛋白质链可以折叠成精确而独特的3D形状，很像3D拼图。蛋白质的大小和形状比任何传统聚合物(人造塑料)都定义得更好。正是这些不同的形状赋予了蛋白质各自的功能。最近在计算蛋白质设计方面的进展使特定的结构可以被有目的地设计。与大量生产这些蛋白质的改进方法相结合，现在可以想象以比现有产品更高的精度设计大量大分子材料。自然界有效地利用了单个分子和足够大的延伸结构之间的中间长度尺度。目前，我们的合成材料在这个范围内控制得很差。通过设计特定的蛋白质序列，我们可以创建自组织单元，从而简化蛋白质生产和纺丝有用纤维的过程。这些单元自动对准和打包，提高了机械性能，同时保留了天然蛋白质纤维的诱人特征，使它们穿起来非常舒适。现有的开发这一想法的尝试使用了天然蛋白质的版本，使用传统的批量生产工艺，这些天然蛋白质极难转化为高质量的纺织品。该项目使用新设计的图案，根据第一原则创建，以解决供应链每个步骤的关键障碍，从发酵到纤维纺纱，再到纺织品转化。该项目将演示每个步骤的可扩展性，并制作物理结构样本。这一演示，加上关于产量和纺织品性能的关键数据，将支持英国对这项革命性技术的进一步投资。至关重要的是，这项技术将扰乱现有的纺织品供应链，允许新的无害环境的本地生产。这个高度跨学科的项目将把结构生物学、合成生物学、计算蛋白质设计和材料科学结合在一起，创造面料制造的范式转变。

High performance fibres and synthetic textiles are used in large quantities in both industrial and consumer products. They are produced from petrochemical sources and are rarely biodegradable. Whilst some are in principle recyclable, laundry operations lead to uncontrolled release of microplastic pollution into the environment, including the oceans. Natural fibres, such as cotton, make significant demands on land and water use, and have limited mechanical properties. This project will develop an entirely new approach to manufacturing fibres by spinning them from designer proteins grown by microbial fermentation. The resulting materials will be sustainable, biodegradable, and re-processible.Proteins are large natural molecules built out of exact sequences of amino acids; they play essential structural and functional roles in all known life forms. The specific atomic structures mean that the protein chain folds into a precise and unique 3D shape, rather like a 3D jigsaw puzzle. The size and shape of proteins is much better defined than any conventional polymer (manmade plastic). It is these different shapes that give proteins their individual functions. Recent advances in computational protein design allow specific architectures to be designed deliberately. In combination with improved methods to produce large quantities of these proteins, it is now possible to imagine designing bulk macromolecular materials, with much greater accuracy than existing products. Nature makes effective use of intermediate length scales between individual molecules and extended structures big enough to see. Currently, our synthetic materials are poorly controlled in this range. By designing specific protein sequences, we can create self-organising units that simplify both protein production and the process of spinning useful fibres. These units automatically align and pack, increasing mechanical performance, whilst retaining the attractive features of natural protein fibres, which make them so comfortable to wear. Existing attempts to develop this idea have used versions of natural proteins that are extremely difficult to convert into high quality textiles, using conventional bulk manufacturing processes. This project uses newly designed motifs, created from first principles, in order to resolve the crucial obstacles at each step of the supply chain from fermentation, through fibre spinning, to textile conversion. The project will demonstrate the scalability of each step, and produce physical fabric samples. This demonstration, together with key data on production yields and textile performance, will underpin further investment in this revolutionary technology, within the UK. Crucially, the technology will disrupt with existing textile supply chains, allowing new environmentally sound local production. This highly interdisciplinary project will bring together structural biology, synthetic biology, computational protein design, and materials science to create a paradigm shift in fabric manufacturing.