蜘蛛吐丝过程中钾的作用

用电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)对蜘蛛Nephila丝腺体和丝进行测定,结果表明,钾在丝中的含量明显高于在丝腺体中的含量.同时,在蜘蛛丝蛋白溶液中加入氯化钾,溶液出现乳白色浑浊,表明有呈β-折叠构象的微纤产生.浊度测试发现,丝蛋白微纤会逐渐聚集成较大颗粒而在溶液中形成沉淀.另外,红外光谱和拉曼光谱亦证明钾能够使蜘蛛丝蛋白膜发生从无规线团/螺旋到β-折叠的构象转变.有理由认为钾在蜘蛛吐丝过程中起重要作用,它的存在有利于丝蛋白形成β-折叠结构.     

基于动物丝蛋白的人工纺丝

动物丝,特别是蜘蛛丝近年来由于其优异的综合力学性能而备受关注。但是天然动物丝的应用由于种种原因而受到各种限制,因此人们期望通过人工纺丝获得性能与天然动物丝相近的人工丝纤维。本文就采用动物丝蛋白进行人工纺丝的历史和现状,从再生蜘蛛丝蛋白、重组蜘蛛丝蛋白和再生蚕丝蛋白等方面进行综述,比较了天然动物丝和人工丝纤维的力学性能,并且探讨了人工生物模拟纺丝制备高性能人工丝纤维(超级纤维)的前景。     

蜘蛛与蚕的人工强制纺丝研究进展

为制备高性能人造蜘蛛丝和蚕丝,人们在蜘蛛丝蛋白的基因重组、再生蜘蛛丝蛋白或蚕丝蛋白的仿生纺丝,以及蜘蛛与蚕的人工强制纺丝方面开展了大量工作.研究了人工强制纺丝,比较了蜘蛛牵引丝和蚕丝在不同纺丝条件下的力学性能.结果表明:在一定范围内增加纺丝速率有利于提高蜘蛛丝和蚕丝的力学性能,此外,环境温度、纺丝状态等条件对丝的性能也...     

Probing site-specific 13C/15N-isotope enrichment of spider silk with liquid-state NMR spectroscopy

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been extensively used to elucidate spider silk protein structure and dynamics. In many of these studies, site-specific isotope enrichment is critical for designing particular NMR methods for silk structure determination. The commonly used isotope analysis techniques, isotope-ratio mass spectroscopy and liquid/gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, are typically not capable of providing the site-specific isotope information for many systems because an appropriate sample derivatization method is not available. In contrast, NMR does not require any sample derivatization or separation prior to analysis. In this article, conventional liquid-state ¹H NMR was implemented to evaluate incorporation of ¹³C/¹⁵N-labeled amino acids in hydrolyzed spider dragline silk. To determine site-specific ¹³C and ¹⁵N isotope enrichments, an analysis method was developed to fit the ¹H–¹³C and ¹H–¹⁵N J-splitting (J _CH and J _NH) ¹H NMR peak patterns of hydrolyzed silk fiber. This is demonstrated for Nephila clavipes spiders, where [U–¹³C₃,¹⁵N]-Ala and [1-¹³C,¹⁵N]-Gly were dissolved in their water supplies. Overall, contents for Ala and Gly isotopomers are extracted for these silk samples. The current methodology can be applied to many fields where site-specific tracking of isotopes is of interest.      

Microstructure elucidation of historic silk (Bombyx mori) by nuclear magnetic resonance

¹H NMR cryoporometry and solid-state ¹³C cross-polarization (CP) magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of historic and fresh silk samples. Silk is a polymeric bicomponent material composed of fibroin and water located in micropores. According to the ¹H NMR cryoporometry method, the intensity of the water resonance as a function of the temperature was used to obtain the pore size distribution, which was strongly asymmetric with a well-defined maximum at 1.1 nm. Compared with the fresh silk samples, the volume of pores around 1.1 nm decreased distinctly in the historic silk, and more pores larger than 2 nm emerged accordingly. In addition, these results correlated well with solid-state ¹³C CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy as the percentage of random coil in the historic silk sample was much less than that in the fresh silk samples. Therefore, it is suggested that the water-filled microvoids grow larger as the random coil conformation fades away in the degradation process.

Natural silks: archetypal supramolecular assembly of polymer fibres

Major ampullate silk produced by Nephila clavipes spiders exhibits a unique spectrum of desirable mechanical properties. There are useful lessons for materials scientists concerned with the interrelation of synthesis, processing, microstructural design and properties of polymer fibres; lessons learned to date are reviewed briefly. A significant feature of silk spinning in vivo is the evidence that a processable liquid crystalline phase assembles by non-covalent aggregation of polymer (fibroin) having a random coil conformation. It is shown in this paper that the form birefringence calculated for such a liquid crystalline phase is compatible with the measured birefringence of liquid crystalline silk secretion. Also, the linear rate of assembly is estimated for the rod-like aggregates. Comparison with the linear aggregation rate achieved by G-actin (in the well-characterized acrosomal process) confirms that the estimate for fibroin is credible.     

Correlation between processing conditions,microstructure and mechanical behavior in regenerated silkworm silk fibers

Regenerated silkworm fibers spun through a wet‐spinning process followed by an immersion postspinning drawing step show a work to fracture comparable with that of natural silkworm silk fibers in a wide range of spinning conditions. The mechanical behavior and microstructure of these high performance fibers have been characterized, and compared with those fibers produced through conventional spinning conditions. The comparison reveals that both sets of fibers share a common semicrystalline microstructure, but significant differences are apparent in the amorphous region. Besides, high performance fibers show a ground state and the possibility of tuning their tensile behavior. These properties are characteristic of spider silk and not of natural silkworm silk, despite both regenerated and natural silkworm silk share a common composition different from that of spider silk. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012     

Structural role of tyrosine in Bombyx mori silk fibroin, studied by solid-state NMR and molecular mechanics on a model peptide prepared as silk I and II

The influence of the bulky and H-bonding Tyr side-chain on its Ala- and Gly-rich environment in Bombyx mori silk fibroin was examined by (13)C cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CP/MAS), static (2)H and (19)F NMR and molecular mechanics calculations. Model peptides of the type (AG)(15) were synthesized with Tyr in a number of different positions, precipitated under conditions favoring either of the two characteristic protein conformations, and the resulting structures were assigned from their (13)C chemical shifts. Dialysis of native fibroin or the simple (AG)(15) peptide from a 9 M LiBr solution against water produces silk I (the structure of silk before spinning), whereas drying from formic acid yields silk II (fibrous structure after spinning). We found that the introduction one or more Tyr into (AG)(15) can have a dramatic effect not only on the local backbone conformation but also on the long-range intermolecular chain packing in the samples. The antiparallel beta-sheet conformation of silk II is able readily to accommodate a single Tyr residue. Interestingly, the beta-turn conformation of silk I only remains stable when Tyr is positioned near the chain terminus in (AG)(12)YG(AG)(2), but the conformation is driven towards silk II when Tyr is located in the central region of (AG)(7)YG(AG)(7). The role of H-bonding was tested by replacing Tyr with Phe or 4F-Phe, which are no longer compatible with silk I and fully induced a silk II conformation. In the presence of several Tyr residues a mixture of distorted beta-sheet and beta-turn conformations was obtained, regardless of the precipitation conditions. Static (2)H NMR of ring-deuterated [3',5'-(2)H(2)]Tyr located in the central region of (AG)(7)YG(AG)(7) showed that the side-chain is immobilized in both silk I and II, which was also observed by static (19)F NMR of the 4F-Phe analogue. To visualize the local packing around the Tyr side-chain, molecular mechanics calculations were performed on a mixture of (AG)(4) and AGAGYGAG, starting from either the beta-turn type II or the antiparallel beta-sheet structure. The resulting structures show that the intermolecular chain arrangement is significantly affected by Tyr, thus explaining the long-range packing effects in the semi-crystalline regions of silk fibers compared with the crystalline regions that are devoid of Tyr.     

WISE NMR characterization of nanoscale heterogeneity and mobility in supercontracted Nephila clavipes spider dragline silk

The addition of water to spider dragline silk results in fiber contraction to 50% its initial length and significant changes to the mechanical properties of the silk. This event has been termed supercontraction. A decrease in strength and increase in elasticity have been reported when the silk is in contact with water. Two-dimensional wide-line separation (WISE) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is implemented to correlate (13)C chemical shifts with mobility by observing the corresponding (1)H line widths and line shapes in water-saturated spider dragline silk. The WISE NMR spectrum of the native silk exhibits (1)H line widths that are approximately 40 kHz for all carbon environments characteristic of a rigid organic system. In contrast, the water-saturated case displays a component of the (1)H line that is narrowed to approximately 5 kHz for the glycine C(alpha) and a newly resolved alanine helical environment while the alanine C(beta) corresponding to the beta-sheet conformation remains broad. These results indicate that water permeates the amorphous, glycine-rich matrix and not the crystalline, polyalanine beta-sheets. A delay time is added to the WISE NMR pulse sequence to monitor spin diffusion between the amorphous, mobile region and the crystalline domains. The time required for spin diffusion to reach spatial equilibrium is related to the length scale of the polyalanine crystallites. This technique is employed to measure crystalline domain sizes on the nanometer length scale in water-solvated spider dragline silk. These results provide further insight into the structure of spider silk and mechanism of supercontraction.     

金属离子导致的丝素蛋白的构象转变

蚕丝和蜘蛛丝的优异力学性能一直是科学家们关注的课题^[1-3]。近年来,在蚕丝蛋白结构及其构象方面的研究取得了许多进展^[3-5]。在蚕的腺体中丝素蛋白的构象为silk I（主要是无规线团为主,还有少量的β－转角,α螺旋等）,而在纤维状的丝中为silk Ⅱ（主要是β折叠）。金属离子在蚕叶丝过程中的作用也一直是一个人们关心的问题。Chen等^[6]在研究丝胶（包附在丝素蛋白表层的另外一种蛋白）时发现,在一定pH条件下,Ni^2 离子通过四配位的螯合作用诱导丝素蛋白β折叠的形成。并且,Viney等^[7]根据电感耦合等离子体（ICP－MS）技术推测Ca^2 的增加能使β折叠的形成加速。     

Determining secondary structure in spider dragline silk by carbon-carbon correlation solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Two-dimensional (2D) (13)C-(13)C NMR correlation spectra were collected on (13)C-enriched dragline silk fibers produced from Nephila clavipes spiders. The 2D NMR spectra were acquired under fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) and dipolar-assisted rotational resonance (DARR) recoupling to enhance magnetization transfer between (13)C spins. Spectra obtained with short (150 ms) recoupling periods were utilized to extract distinct chemical shifts for all carbon resonances of each labeled amino acid in the silk spectra, resulting in a complete resonance assignment. The NMR results presented here permit extraction of the precise chemical shift of the carbonyl environment for each (13)C-labeled amino acid in spider silk for the first time. Spectra collected with longer recoupling periods (1 s) were implemented to detect intermolecular magnetization exchange between neighboring amino acids. This information is used to ascribe NMR resonances to the specific repetitive amino acid motifs prevalent in spider silk proteins. These results indicate that glycine and alanine are both present in two distinct structural environments: a disordered 3(1)-helical conformation and an ordered beta-sheet structure. The former can be ascribed to the Gly-Gly-Ala motif while the latter is assigned to the poly(Ala) and poly(Gly-Ala) domains.     

Accurate Backbone 13C and 15N Chemical Shift Tensors in Galectin-3 Determined by MAS NMR and QM/MM: Details of Structure and Environment Matter

Chemical shift tensors obtained from solid-state NMR spectroscopy are very sensitive reporters of structure and dynamics in proteins. While accurate ¹³C and ¹⁵N chemical shift tensors are accessible by magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR, their quantum mechanical calculations remain challenging, particularly for ¹⁵N atoms. Here we compare experimentally determined backbone ¹³C^α and ¹⁵N^H chemical shift tensors by MAS NMR with hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics/molecular dynamics (MD-QM/MM) calculations for the carbohydrate-binding domain of galectin-3. Excellent agreement between experimental and computed ¹⁵N^H chemical shift anisotropy values was obtained using the Amber ff15ipq force field when solvent dynamics was taken into account in the calculation. Our results establish important benchmark conditions for improving the accuracy of chemical shift calculations in proteins and may aid in the validation of protein structure models derived by MAS NMR.     

Regio- and stereoselective hydrosilylation of immobilized terminal alkynes

Regio- and stereoselective hydrosilylation of terminal alkynes on solid support using diisopropyl hydrosilanes yielding β-(E)-vinyl silanes with excellent selectivity is reported. The hydrosilylation is catalyzed by Pt(DVDS)/P(ⁱBuNCH₂CH₂)₃N (DVDS = 1,3-divinyl-1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-disiloxane), in which the bulky proazaphosphatrane ligand plays a key role for the selectivity. The immobilized products are characterized with gel phase¹³C NMR and ¹H high resolution magic angle spinning NMR.     

Degree of Biomimicry of Artificial Spider Silk Spinning Assessed by NMR Spectroscopy

Biomimetic spinning of artificial spider silk requires that the terminal domains of designed minispidroins undergo specific structural changes in concert with the β‐sheet conversion of the repetitive region. Herein, we combine solution and solid‐state NMR methods to probe domain‐specific structural changes in the NT2RepCT minispidroin, which allows us to assess the degree of biomimicry of artificial silk spinning. In addition, we show that the structural effects of post‐spinning procedures can be examined. By studying the impact of NT2RepCT fiber drying, we observed a reversible beta‐to‐alpha conversion. We think that this approach will be useful for guiding the optimization of artificial spider silk fibers.     

NMR spectroscopic studies on dissolution of softwood pulp with enhanced reactivity

N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) is a known cellulose solvent used in industrial scale (LyoCel process). We have studied interactions between pretreated softwood pulp fibers and aqueous NMMO using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic methods, including solid state cross polarisation magic angle spinning (CP-MAS) ¹³C and ¹⁵N spectroscopies, and ¹H high resolution MAS NMR spectroscopy. Changes in both cellulose morphology and in accessibility of solvents were observed after the pulp samples that were exposed to solvent species were treated at elevated temperature. Evidence about interactions between cellulose and solvent components was observed already after a heat treatment of 15 min. The crystalline structure of cellulose was seen to remain intact for the first 30 min of heat treatment, at the same time there was a re-distribution of solvent species taking place. After a 90 min heat treatment the crystalline structure of cellulose had experienced major changes, and potential signs of regeneration into cellulose II were observed.     

High‐resolution magic angle spinning 1H NMR measurement of ligand concentration in solvent‐saturated chromatographic beads

A method based on ¹H high‐resolution magic angle spinning NMR has been developed for measuring concentration accurately in heterogeneous materials like that of ligands in chromatography media. Ligand concentration is obtained by relating the peak integrals for a butyl ligand in the spectrum of a water‐saturated chromatography medium to the integral of the added internal reference. The method is fast, with capacity of 10 min total sample preparation and analysis time per sample; precise, with a reproducibility expressed as 1.7% relative standard deviation; and accurate, as indicated by the excellent agreement of derived concentration with that obtained previously by ¹³C single‐pulse excitation MAS NMR. The effects of radiofrequency field inhomogeneity, spin rate, temperature increase due to spinning, and distribution and re‐distribution of medium and reference solvent both inside the rotor during spinning and between bulk solvent and pore space are discussed in detail. © 2016 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Conformational Transformation Exhibited by the Peptide Extracted from Crystalline Region of Bombyx mori Silk Fibroin in Solid and Solution States

The conformational transformation of a 30-residue peptide H（Ala-Gly-Ser-Gly-AIa-Gly）5OH, i.e., （AGSGAG）5, extracted from highly crystalline region of Bombyx mori （B. mori） silk fibroin was described by using the high resolution solid state 13^C NMR, and CD spectroscopies. Based on the conformation-dependent 13^C NMR chemical shifts of the Ala, Gly and Ser residues and the line-shape analysis of the conformation sensitive Ala Cβ resonance, the peptide revealed a strong preference for silk Ⅱ structural form, i,e,, an antiparallel fl-sheet structure （φ= - 140±20°and ψ= 135±20°） in solid state. On the contrary, the CD spectra of this peptide in the two non-native hexafluorinated fibre spinning solvents, hexafluoroisopropanol （HFIP） and hexafluoroacetone （HFA）, exhibited the existence of an unusual tightly-folded conformation resembling 310-helix （φ=- 60±20° and ψ=-30±20°）, as judged from the R ratio of [θ]222/[θ]203 in HFIP solution, whereas a dynamically averaged unordered structure in HFA, Taken together, the information inclined to hypothesis that the primary structure of the highly crystalline regions of B. mori silk fibroin may be easily accessible to the large conformational changes, which in turn may be critical for facilitating the structural transformation from unprocessed silk fibroin （silk I form） to processed silk fiber （silk Ⅱform）.     

Hierarchies in the structural organization of spider silk—a quantitative model

The unsurpassed mechanical properties of major ampullate spider silk are quantitatively explained by a hierarchical model of its structural organization. Based on combined time-resolved mechanical and Fourier-transform infrared measurements, we show that the core of native silk fibers is strongly prestressed. The prestress is released during wetting, allowing the fibers to shrink, changing permanently the mechanical properties. Prestress is, therefore, the controlling parameter of silk properties.     

The enthalpies of solution of DL-α-alanine in water-organic solvent mixtures at 298.15 K

The integral enthalpies of solution (298.15 K) of DL-α-alanine in water-organic solvent mixtures were measured at organic component concentrations x ₂ = 0–0.4 mole fractions. The organic solvents used were acetonitrile (ACN), formamide (FA), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMFA), and N,N-dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The standard enthalpies of solution Δ_sol H ^o, solvation Δ_solv H ^o, and transfer (Δ_tr H ^o) of DL-α-alanine from water to mixed solvents were calculated. The influence of the structure and properties of solutes and mixture composition on solute thermochemical characteristics was considered. The solution of DL-α-alanine in the mixtures studied was endothermic over the whole range of organic component concentrations. The Δ_sol H ^o, Δ_tr H ^o, and Δ_solv H ^o values as functions of x ₂ can pass extrema (DMSO and DMFA), be almost independent of mixed solvent composition (FA), or be exothermic and monotonic functions (ACN). The enthalpy coefficients of pair interactions (h _xy ) between DL-α-alanine and organic solvent molecules were calculated. The linear Kamlet-Taft equation was used to correlate the h _xy values with the properties of organic solvents.