Peptide conjugate molecules comprising a gold-binding peptide (e.g., AYSSGAPPMPPF) attached to an aliphatic tail have proven to be powerful agents for directing the synthesis and assembly of gold nanoparticle superstructures, in particular chiral helices having interesting plasmonic chiroptical properties. The composition and structure of these molecular agents can be tailored to carefully tune the structure and properties of gold nanoparticle single and double helices. To date, modifications to the β-sheet region (AYSSGA) of the peptide sequence have not been exploited to control the metrics and assembly of such superstructures. We report here that systematic peptide sequence variation in a series of gold-binding peptide conjugate molecules can be leveraged not only to affect the assembly of peptide conjugates but also to control the synthesis, assembly, and optical properties of gold nanoparticle superstructures. Depending upon the hydrophobicity of a single-amino acid variant, the conjugates yield either dispersed gold nanoparticles or helical superstructures. These results provide evidence that subtle changes to peptide sequence, via single-amino acid variation in the β-sheet region, can be leveraged to program structural control in chiral gold nanoparticle superstructures.

中文翻译：

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利用肽序列修饰促进手性螺旋金纳米颗粒超结构的组装

包含连接到脂肪族尾部的金结合肽（例如，AYSSGAPPMPPF）的肽缀合物分子已被证明是用于指导合成和组装金纳米颗粒超结构的有力试剂，特别是具有有趣的等离子体手性光学特性的手性螺旋。这些分子试剂的组成和结构可以定制，以仔细调整金纳米颗粒单螺旋和双螺旋的结构和性质。迄今为止，尚未利用对肽序列的 β-折叠区 (AYSSGA) 的修饰来控制此类超结构的度量和组装。我们在此报告，一系列金结合肽偶联物分子中的系统肽序列变异不仅可以影响肽偶联物的组装，还可以控制合成，金纳米颗粒超结构的组装和光学特性。根据单氨基酸变体的疏水性，缀合物产生分散的金纳米颗粒或螺旋超结构。这些结果提供了证据，表明肽序列的细微变化，通过 β 折叠区域中的单个氨基酸变异，可用于对手性金纳米颗粒超结构的结构控制进行编程。