Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.123, No.31, 6716-6727, 2019
Toward Understanding the Silk Fiber Structure: C-13 Solid-State NMR Studies of the Packing Structures of Alanine Oligomers before and after Trifluoroacetic Acid Treatment
Polyalanine (poly-A) sequences with tightly packed antiparallel beta sheet (AP-beta) structures are frequently observed in silk fibers and serve as a key contributor to the exceptionally high-fiber tensile strength. In general, the poly-A sequence embedded in the amorphous glycine-rich regions has different lengths depending on the fiber type from spiders or wild silkworms. In this paper, the packing structures of AP-beta alanine oligomers with different lengths were studied using C-13 solid-state NMR as a model of the poly-A sequences. These included alanine oligomers with and without the protection groups (i.e., 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl and polyethylene glycol groups at the N- and C-terminals, respectively). The fractions of the packing structures as well as the conformations were determined by deconvolution analyses of the methyl NMR peaks. Trifluoroacetic acid was used to promote the staggered packing structures, and the line shapes changed significantly for oligomers without the protected groups but only slightly for oligomers with the protected groups. Through NMR analysis of the 3-C-13 singly labeled alanine heptamer and refined crystal structure of the staggered packing units, a possible mechanism of the staggered packing formation is proposed for the AP-beta alanine heptamer.