2024 IRG-2: Bioinspired heme binding peptide fibers
Natural conductive wires from bacteria are one-dimensional chains of cytochromes – heme containing proteins. To mimic their structure and make synthetic conductive wires, we design heme binding peptide bundles to use as building blocks of self-assembling wires:
•Design of heme binding sequences with reactive bioconjugate chemical group.
•These designed peptides bind heme and arrange them in 1D chains like bacterial cytochrome wires.
•Heme are coordinated within these peptide wires similarly to natural cytochromes, including binding affinity and redox potential.
•These wires will form the basis for integration of dissipative sequence elements developed previously within the MRSEC IRG2.
Naomy Marrufo, Zack Urbach, Paul Hurst, Joe Patterson, Allon Hochbaum