Self-Assembly of Stable Nanoscale Platelets from Designed\nElastin-like Peptide–Collagen-like Peptide Bioconjugates

Abstract

The self-assembly\nof nanostructures from elastin-like (poly)­peptide\n(ELP) containing block copolymers has been a subject of intense investigation\nover decades. However, short synthetic ELPs have rarely been used\ndue to their high inverse transition temperature; the use of short\nELPs has largely been limited to polymer conjugates. Motivated by\nour previous work which successfully overcame this barrier by simply\nconjugating short ELPs with a triple-helix-forming collagen-like peptide,\nin this study, we further extend the ELP library to a series of ELPs\nequipped with aromatic residues and having sequences as short as four\npentapeptide motifs. The resulting elastin-like peptide–collagen-like\npeptide (ELP–CLP) bioconjugates unexpectedly self-assembled\ninto nanosized platelets likely by forming a bilayer structure. Given\nthe previously demonstrated ability of many other CLP conjugates to\ntarget collagens and the potential for encapsulation of hydrophobic\ndrugs in collapsed ELPs, these ELP–CLP nanoplatelets may offer\nsimilar opportunities for targeted delivery in biomedical and other\narenas.