Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel
Abstract The self-assembly of small molecules through non-covalent interactions is an emerging and promising strategy for building dynamic, stable, and large-scale structures. One remaining challenge is making the non-covalent interactions occur in the ideal positions to generate strength comparable...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56415-7 |
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| author | Yu Fang Junhui Shi Juan Liang Dan Ma Huaimin Wang |
| author_facet | Yu Fang Junhui Shi Juan Liang Dan Ma Huaimin Wang |
| author_sort | Yu Fang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The self-assembly of small molecules through non-covalent interactions is an emerging and promising strategy for building dynamic, stable, and large-scale structures. One remaining challenge is making the non-covalent interactions occur in the ideal positions to generate strength comparable to that of covalent bonds. This work shows that small molecule YAWF can self-assemble into a liquid-crystal hydrogel (LCH), the mechanical properties of which could be controlled by water. LCH can be used to construct stable solid threads with a length of over 1 meter by applying an external force on 2 µL of gel solution followed by water-regulated crystallization. These solid threads can support 250 times their weight. Cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) analysis unravels the three-dimensional structure of the liquid-crystal fiber (elongated helix with C2 symmetry) at an atomic resolution. The multiscale mechanics of this material depend on the specificity of the molecular structure, and the water-controlled hierarchical and sophisticated self-assembly. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-96f3dcb633dd44caa47748a0306fb93a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-96f3dcb633dd44caa47748a0306fb93a2025-02-02T12:33:01ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111110.1038/s41467-025-56415-7Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogelYu Fang0Junhui Shi1Juan Liang2Dan Ma3Huaimin Wang4Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang UniversityKey Laboratory of Structure Biology of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, School of Science, Westlake UniversityKey Laboratory of Structure Biology of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, School of Science, Westlake UniversityAbstract The self-assembly of small molecules through non-covalent interactions is an emerging and promising strategy for building dynamic, stable, and large-scale structures. One remaining challenge is making the non-covalent interactions occur in the ideal positions to generate strength comparable to that of covalent bonds. This work shows that small molecule YAWF can self-assemble into a liquid-crystal hydrogel (LCH), the mechanical properties of which could be controlled by water. LCH can be used to construct stable solid threads with a length of over 1 meter by applying an external force on 2 µL of gel solution followed by water-regulated crystallization. These solid threads can support 250 times their weight. Cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) analysis unravels the three-dimensional structure of the liquid-crystal fiber (elongated helix with C2 symmetry) at an atomic resolution. The multiscale mechanics of this material depend on the specificity of the molecular structure, and the water-controlled hierarchical and sophisticated self-assembly.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56415-7 |
| spellingShingle | Yu Fang Junhui Shi Juan Liang Dan Ma Huaimin Wang Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel Nature Communications |
| title | Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel |
| title_full | Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel |
| title_fullStr | Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel |
| title_short | Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel |
| title_sort | water regulated viscosity plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self assembled muscle like hydrogel |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56415-7 |
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