STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF (AD II)(26) FIBER, A NOVEL BIOENGINEERED MATERIAL BASED ON A VIRAL SPIKE PROTEIN

The structure of the (Ad II)(26) fiber, a textile fiber spun from a solution of recombinant polypeptide, was examined using several techniques and compared to models from the literature. The: polypeptide is based on a sequence derived from a protein from type 2 human adenovirus. Transmission electron microscopy suggests that there are no long range periodic structures in the fibers. Comparison of Raman spectra taken in two fiber orientations indicates that there is about 59% beta-sheet and 19% beta-turn. Mechanical studies, light microscopy (including birefringence), and Raman data indicate that the polypeptide backbone is at least partially aligned along the fiber axis. The polypeptide in the spun fiber appears to be organized in a manner different from the trimeric beta-sheet rods proposed in models of the viral spike protein.