Introduction: Recombinant structural proteins have features that make them ideal as polymers for the production of advanced materials. However, currently these polymers are under utilised in materials science primarily due to a lack of examples that can be (a) produced at commercial scales, (b) fabricated into useful load-bearing forms, and (c) rationally designed to increase functionality without comprising the ability to either produce them at scale or fabricate them into material forms. Here we outline the efforts of our laboratory towards production of a template protein polymer suitable for design of advanced materials. Materials and Methods: We screened Australian biodiversity to identify extracorporeal structural proteins that fulfil the necessary criteria required as templates for advanced material design. Various previously undescribed silk proteins were expressed in recombinant systems, recombinant proteins were fabricated into various material forms, and protein sequences were analysed using evolutionary biology. Results and Discussion: The silk proteins of aculeate insects (bees, ants and hornets) fold into α-helices that self assemble into coiled coil molecular structures. The structure of these silks is markedly different to the β-sheet structure adopted by the silk proteins of silkworms and spiders. The proteins are well suited to existing recombinant production systems; can be formed into a variety of solid-state materials such as sponges, films and fibres, with the physical properties of the final material being determined by the fabrication process; and, the natural primary sequence variation found between homologs indicates that the protein primary sequence can be extensively modified and yet will retain the ability to self assemble into the native coiled coil molecular structure which can be fabricated into a silk material. These proteins currently form the template for nitric oxide sensing materials. Conclusion: The silks of the aculeate insects (bees, ants, hornets) were identified as being well suited as templates for advanced material design. An example of a functional material generated from these proteins will be discussed.
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