| The overall goal in material science is to be able to control the molecular architecture of a material and thus its end properties. There is no method that offers greater control than the biological synthesis of proteins. From the DNA sequence to the final synthesized protein, the entire process is finitely controlled. This present work describes methods developed and used to synthesize protein polymers by manipulating this process. From the initial DNA sequence chosen, the end properties that the protein polymer will have are dictated. An amphiphilic diblock copolymer was designed based on environmentally responsive elastin-mimetic peptide sequences [(Val/Ile)-Pro-Gly-Xaa-Gly] (Xaa = Ala or Glu for the hydrophilic block, Val or Phe for the hydrophobic block) and synthesized using a genetic engineering approach. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements in aqueous solution revealed that reversible hydrophobic folding and assembly of the copolymer occurs above the inverse temperature transition, Tt, of the hydrophobic block. This process results in the formation of 50 nm protein-based micellar aggregates, which were characterized by electron microscopy and temperature-dependent dynamic light scattering techniques. The distribution of micellar aggregates can be altered reproducibly through variation of environmental conditions including pH and temperature. The uniform and defined macromolecular architecture of this protein copolymer permits greater control over the physical properties of the micelles, which therefore may facilitate applications in controlled release of small molecules. |
