Publications by authors named "Chun-Fei Hu"
Article Synopsis
- Spider dragline silk is a strong and elastic natural fiber, and its fiber assembly is influenced by how spidroin molecules preassemble before becoming fibers.
- Researchers designed three silk protein variants with different numbers of alanine residues in their repeated structures to study their preassembly in solutions.
- The variant with 8 alanine residues (N15C-8A) formed stable fibrils, leading to the creation of durable synthetic fibers with impressive strength and toughness.
Spatially Directed Biosynthesis of Quantum Dots via Spidroin Templating in Escherichia coli.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
December 2022
Article Synopsis
- Researchers explored how to synthesize quantum dots (QDs) using biomolecular condensates in Escherichia coli, which are membraneless cell compartments.
- They achieved this by overexpressing spider silk protein, allowing it to bind precursor ions and form specific structures, leading to the creation of protein condensates.
- This innovative method not only produced fluorescent QDs but also reduced the harmful effects of precursor heavy metals, suggesting promising applications for nanostructure synthesis inside cells.
Article Synopsis
- Spider dragline silk is an exceptionally strong protein fiber better than most materials, and creating a sustainable source isn't practical, so scientists are exploring synthetic versions with similar properties and new functions.
- Researchers have developed a method to enhance these recombinant silk fibers by incorporating nanoparticles into them, resulting in fibers with better strength and unique properties, such as a significant photothermal effect.
- The new fibers not only outperformed natural spider silk in toughness but also offered improved ultraviolet protection, indicating their potential for various high-performance applications.
Article Synopsis
- Spider dragline silk is a unique and tough fiber made from proteins called spidroins secreted by spiders, which has led to efforts to produce similar synthetic fibers using microbes.
- Researchers engineered a type of bacteria, Corynebacterium glutamicum, to efficiently secrete a model spidroin, MaSpI16, improving its production and purity significantly.
- The techniques developed not only yield the desired spidroin abundantly but also allow for the creation of strong synthetic fibers, indicating a promising sustainable method for producing valuable fibrous materials.
Article Synopsis
- Spider dragline silk is made from specialized proteins called spidroins, which have a complex structure that allows them to assemble into strong fibers at tiny scales.
- Researchers created a synthetic version of spider silk (N16C) by including both the amino- and carboxy-terminal domains, which are crucial for forming stable fibril-like structures.
- The presence of these terminal domains led to the production of robust synthetic fibers that are similar in toughness to natural spider silk, while proteins missing these domains resulted in weaker fibers.
Article Synopsis
- - Membraneless organelles, typically seen in eukaryotes, have been successfully created in prokaryotic E. coli through the overexpression of disordered proteins like spider silk and resilin.
- - These organelles form via liquid-liquid phase separation, and experiments mimicking the crowded E. coli environment demonstrated their formation.
- - The study showed that these condensates can be engineered to localize specific proteins, allowing them to function as artificial organelles capable of fluorescing and facilitating biochemical reactions, opening new avenues in synthetic biology.