TY - JOUR
T1 - Pulling out a peptide chain from β-sheet crystallite
T2 - propagation of instability of H-bonds under shear force
AU - Xu, Changjian
AU - Li, Dechang
AU - Cheng, Yuan
AU - Liu, Ming
AU - Zhang, Yongwei
AU - Ji, Baohua
N1 - Funding Information:
The project was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grants 11025208, 11372042, 11221202, and 11202026). We also thank the generous allocation of computing materials by Australian NCI supercomputers. MSL acknowledges the support from CSIRO - Intelligent Processing TCP, CAFHS’ Capability Development Fund, and CSIRO - Advanced Materials TCP.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2015/6/18
Y1 - 2015/6/18
N2 - Anti-parallel $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite as the main component of silk fibroin has attracted much attention due to its superior mechanical properties. In this study, we examine the processes of pulling a peptide chain from $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite using steered molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the rupture behavior of the crystallite. We show that the failure of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite was accompanied by a propagation of instability of hydrogen-bonds (H-bonds) in the crystallite. In addition, we find that there is an optimum size of the crystallite at which the H-bonds can work cooperatively to achieve the highest shear strength. In addition, we find that the stiffness of loading device and the loading rates have significant effects on the rupture behavior of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite. The stiff loading device facilitates the rebinding of the H-bond network in the stick-slip motion between the chains, while the soft one suppresses it. Moreover, the rupture force of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallites decreases with loading rate. Particularly, when the loading rate decreases to a critical value, the rupture force of the $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite becomes independent of the loading rates. This study provides atomistic details of rupture behaviors of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite, and, therefore, sheds valuable light on the underlying mechanism of the superior mechanical properties of silk fibroin.
AB - Anti-parallel $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite as the main component of silk fibroin has attracted much attention due to its superior mechanical properties. In this study, we examine the processes of pulling a peptide chain from $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite using steered molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the rupture behavior of the crystallite. We show that the failure of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite was accompanied by a propagation of instability of hydrogen-bonds (H-bonds) in the crystallite. In addition, we find that there is an optimum size of the crystallite at which the H-bonds can work cooperatively to achieve the highest shear strength. In addition, we find that the stiffness of loading device and the loading rates have significant effects on the rupture behavior of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite. The stiff loading device facilitates the rebinding of the H-bond network in the stick-slip motion between the chains, while the soft one suppresses it. Moreover, the rupture force of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallites decreases with loading rate. Particularly, when the loading rate decreases to a critical value, the rupture force of the $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite becomes independent of the loading rates. This study provides atomistic details of rupture behaviors of $${\upbeta }$$β-sheet crystallite, and, therefore, sheds valuable light on the underlying mechanism of the superior mechanical properties of silk fibroin.
KW - H-bond network
KW - Molecular biomechanics
KW - Silk fibroin
KW - Steered molecular dynamics
KW - β-Sheet crystallite
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84931570005&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10409-015-0404-y
DO - 10.1007/s10409-015-0404-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84931570005
VL - 31
SP - 416
EP - 424
JO - Acta Mechanica Sinica/Lixue Xuebao
JF - Acta Mechanica Sinica/Lixue Xuebao
SN - 0567-7718
IS - 3
ER -