Unique silica biomimetic mineralization of acidic elastin-like polypeptides without hydroxyl and charged residues

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), usually as a purification-tag, can be easily expressed and rapidly purified. We found ELPs[V9F-40], which did not contain hydroxyl or charged residues with the pI of 5.52, could biomimetically form silica when they were in ordered structure. The specific activity of ELPs[V9F-40] was 70.89 ± 9.53. Besides, the time needed for the completion of biomimetic silicification was about 138 s, which was only 1/3 of that...