Expression, crosslinking, and developing modulus master curves of recombinant resilin

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Protein Engineering
• Insect Biomechanics

Background:

• Resilin is a natural elastic protein crucial for insect locomotion and sound production.
• Its unique mechanical properties, including high resilience and broad frequency response, are vital for insect function.
• Understanding resilin's behavior is key to developing advanced biomaterials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize recombinant resilin (clone-1, exon-1+exon-2).
• To determine the dynamic mechanical properties of synthetic resilin.
• To compare the behavior of recombinant resilin with natural resilin using master curves.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis and crosslinking of recombinant resilin.
• Determination of water content and surface energies.
• Application of time-temperature superposition principle (TTSP) and time-temperature concentration superposition principle (TTCSP) to develop dynamic moduli master curves.
• Comparison of master curves with natural resilin data (locusts, dragonflies, cockroaches).

Main Results:

• Recombinant resilin has approximately 80wt% water content.
• Dynamic moduli master curves were successfully developed for synthetic resilin.
• A pronounced transition was observed with increasing ethanol concentration, increasing storage modulus by three orders of magnitude.
• The observed transition may indicate a glass transition, intramolecular hydrogen bond formation, or structural changes in the chitin binding domain (ChBD).

Conclusions:

• This study presents the first dynamic moduli master curves for recombinant resilin.
• The synthetic resilin exhibits distinct mechanical transitions influenced by ethanol concentration.
• Findings provide valuable data for understanding resilin's structure-property relationships and potential biomaterial applications.