Investigation on Structure and Properties of a Novel Designed Peptide with Half-Sequence Ionic Complement

Although the existing design principle of full-sequence ionic complement is convenient for the development of peptides, it greatly constrains the exploration of peptides with other possible assembly mechanisms and different yet essential functions. Herein, a novel designed half-sequence ionic complementary peptide (referred to as P9), AC-Pro-Ser-Phe-Asn-Phe-Lys-Phe-GIu-Pro-NH2, is reported. When transferred from pure water to sodium chloride solution, P9 underwent a dramatic morphological transformation from globular aggregations to nanofibers. Moreover, the rheological experiment showed that the P9 could form a hydrogel with a storage modulus of about 30 Pa even at very low peptide concentration (0.5% (wt/vol)). The P9 hydrogel formed in salt solution could recover in a period of about 1,800 sec, which is faster than that in the pure water. The data suggested that the half-sequence, ionic complementary peptide might be worthy of further research for its special properties.