Title:

Constructing Molecular Models of Tripeptides with Sequence-Encoded Properties

A research article published in June 2017 by Lampel et al. [Science, 2017, 356, 1064–1068] titled, “Polymeric peptide pigments with sequence-encoded properties,” showed that altering the order of the amino acid sequence in small subsets of peptides that self-assemble into supramolecular nanostructures, known as tripeptides, led to sequence-dependent properties, including differences in the ultraviolet light protection, morphology, coloration, and electrochemical properties. Although yielding significant experimental results, the data provided within the published work are limited in providing molecular models of each of these tripeptides and their compositions. Without these molecular models, it is difficult to determine the combination and structure of tripeptides that resulted in desired functional properties. Therefore, this project has utilized molecular modeling and visualization software tools to create atomic structures of the peptides outlined within the published work to be able to decipher the differences between these tripeptide combinations and their self-assembling properties. Allowing proper visualization of the composition of these peptides with tunable properties can lead to the creation of self-assembling biomaterials, useful in various biomedical applications.

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