Impact of multivalent charge presentation on peptide–nanoparticle aggregation

Abstract

Strategies to achieve controlled nanoparticle aggregation have gained much interest, due to the versatility of such systems and their applications in materials science and medicine. In this article we demonstrate that coiled-coil peptide-induced aggregation based on electrostatic interactions is highly sensitive to the length of the peptide as well as the number of presented charges. The quaternary structure of the peptide was found to play an important role in aggregation kinetics. Furthermore, we show that the presence of peptide fibers leads to well-defined nanoparticle assembly on the surface of these macrostructures.

Keywords

• coiled-coil peptides
• α-helical fibrils
• controlled aggregation
• gold nanoparticles
• multivalency