Diversity of viscoelastic properties of an engineered muscle-inspired protein hydrogel

Aufderhorst-Roberts, Anders; Cussons, Sophie; Brockwell, David J.; Dougan, Lorna

Abstract

Folded protein hydrogels are prime candidates as tuneable biomaterials but it is unclear to what extent their mechanical properties have mesoscopic, as opposed to molecular origins. To address this, we probe hydrogels inspired by the muscle protein titin and engineered to the polyprotein I275, using a multimodal rheology approach. Across multiple protocols, the hydrogels consistently exhibit power-law viscoelasticity in the linear viscoelastic regime with an exponent β = 0.03, suggesting a dense fractal meso-structure, with predicted fractal dimension df = 2.48. In the nonlinear viscoelastic regime, the hydrogel undergoes stiffening and energy dissipation, indicating simultaneous alignment and unfolding of the folded proteins on the nanoscale. Remarkably, this behaviour is highly reversible, as the value of β, df and the viscoelastic moduli return to their equilibrium value, even after multiple cycles of deformation. This highlights a previously unrevealed diversity of viscoelastic properties that originate on both at the nanoscale and the mesoscopic scale, providing powerful opportunities for engineering novel biomaterials.

Citation

Aufderhorst-Roberts, A., Cussons, S., Brockwell, D. J., & Dougan, L. (2023). Diversity of viscoelastic properties of an engineered muscle-inspired protein hydrogel. Soft Matter, 19(17), 3167-3178. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2sm01225a

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 24, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 28, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 6, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 6, 2023
• Journal: Soft Matter
• Print ISSN: 1744-683X
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-6848
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 17
• Pages: 3167-3178
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d2sm01225a
• Keywords: Condensed Matter Physics; General Chemistry
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1898319