Issue 42, 2023

Functional mimicry of sea urchin biomineralization proteins with CaCO3-binding peptides selected by phage display

Abstract

The intricate process of biomineralization, e.g. in sea urchins, involves the precise interplay of highly regulated mineralization proteins and the spatiotemporal coordination achieved through compartmentalization. However, the investigation of biomineralization effector molecules, e.g. proteins, is challenging, due to their very low abundance. Therefore, we investigate the functional mimicry in the bioinspired precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) with artificial peptides selected from a peptide library by phage display based on peptide-binding to calcite and aragonite, respectively. The structure-directing effects of the identified peptides were compared to those of natural protein mixes isolated from skeletal (test) structures of two sea urchin species (Arbacia lixula and Paracentrotus lividus). The calcium carbonate samples deposited in the absence or presence of peptides were analyzed with a set of complementary techniques with regard to morphology, polymorph, and nanostructural motifs. Remarkably, some of the CaCO3-binding peptides induced morphological features in calcite that appeared similar to those obtained in the presence of the natural protein mixes. Many of the peptides identified as most effective in exerting a structure-directing effect on calcium carbonate crystallization were rich in basic amino acid residues. Hence, our in vitro mineralization study further highlights the important, but often neglected, role of positively charged soluble organic matrices associated with biological and bioinspired CaCO3 deposition.

Graphical abstract: Functional mimicry of sea urchin biomineralization proteins with CaCO3-binding peptides selected by phage display

  • This article is part of the themed collection: #MyFirstJMCB

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 jul 2023
Accepted
19 set 2023
First published
10 out 2023

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023,11, 10174-10188

Functional mimicry of sea urchin biomineralization proteins with CaCO3-binding peptides selected by phage display

E. Völkle (nee Evgrafov), F. Schulz, J. M. Kanold, M. Michaelis, K. Wissel, F. Brümmer, A. S. Schenk, S. Ludwigs, J. Bill and D. Rothenstein, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023, 11, 10174 DOI: 10.1039/D3TB01584J

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