Coassembly of a New Insect Cuticular Protein and Chitosan via Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation.

Qiuyu Gong, Lei Chen, Jining Wang, Fenghou Yuan, Zhiming Ma, Guoxin Chen, Yinjuan Huang, Yansong Miao, Tian Liu, Xin-Xing Zhang, Qing Yang, Jing Yu

Biomacromolecules 2022 Jun 13

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Insect cuticle is a fiber-reinforced composite material that consists of polysaccharide chitin fibers and a protein matrix. The molecular interactions between insect cuticle proteins and chitin that govern the assembly and evolution of cuticles are still not well understood. Herein, we report that Ostrinia furnacalis cuticular protein hypothetical-1 (OfCPH-1), a newly discovered and most abundant cuticular protein from Asian corn borer O. furnacalis, can form coacervates in the presence of chitosan. The OfCPH-1-chitosan coacervate microdroplets are initially liquid-like but become gel-like with increasing time or salt concentration. The liquid-to-gel transition is driven by hydrogen-bonding interactions, during which an induced β-sheet structure of OfCPH-1 is observed. Given the abundance of OfCPH-1 in the cuticle of O. furnacalis, this liquid-liquid phase separation process and its aging behavior could play critical roles in the formation of the cuticle.

Citation

Qiuyu Gong, Lei Chen, Jining Wang, Fenghou Yuan, Zhiming Ma, Guoxin Chen, Yinjuan Huang, Yansong Miao, Tian Liu, Xin-Xing Zhang, Qing Yang, Jing Yu. Coassembly of a New Insect Cuticular Protein and Chitosan via Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation. Biomacromolecules. 2022 Jun 13;23(6):2562-2571