---
OA_place: repository
OA_type: green
_id: '21749'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: The collagen triple helix assembles hierarchically into bundled oligomers,
solvated networks, and fibers. Synthetic peptide assemblies, driven by supramolecular
interactions, can form single triple helices through intrahelical amino acid pairs;
however, the principles guiding interhelical associations into higher-order structures
remain unclear. Here, we incorporate cation−π and electrostatic charge pairs to
probe interhelical interactions and elucidate the mechanisms driving triple helix
assembly into fibrils, nanotubes, and nanosheets. Introducing cation−π pairs into
a fibrillating collagen mimetic resulted in D-periodic fibrils with pH-sensitive
gelation. By alternating the presentation of electrostatic and cation−π pairs,
the assembly of another D-periodic fibril featuring inner and outer triple-helical
layers was resolved by cryo electron microscopy to a resolution of 8 Å. At physiological
pH, antiparallel association of these triple helices leads to the formation of
nanotubes. The packing behavior of triple helices correlates with the interhelical
interactions, where parallel associations favor fibril formation and antiparallel
interactions drive nanotube and nanosheet assembly. These self-assembling triple-helical
peptides demonstrate how packing of higher-order structures can be tailored with
supramolecular interactions and establish the relationship of different hierarchical
collagen-mimetic assemblies as pH-dependent.
acknowledgement: The authors acknowledge Crispin Hetherington and L. Tracy Yu for
their technical assistance and insights. This work was funded in part by the National
Science Foundation (CHE 2203937), the National Science Foundation Graduate Research
Fellowship (Grant No. 1842494), the Welch Foundation (C-2141), the Swedish Research
Council (2020-04633), and the NIH (GM122510). This work benefited from using the
SasView application, originally developed under NSF award DMR-0520547. SasView contains
code developed with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation program under the SINE2020 project, Grant Agreement No. 654000. This
work was partly done using the Shared Equipment Authority resources at Rice University.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Carson C.
full_name: Cole, Carson C.
last_name: Cole
- first_name: Mark A.B.
full_name: Kreutzberger, Mark A.B.
last_name: Kreutzberger
- first_name: Kevin
full_name: Klein, Kevin
id: 1e7ede04-9e54-11f0-9ec4-8d4d5563c398
last_name: Klein
- first_name: Kiana A.
full_name: Cahue, Kiana A.
last_name: Cahue
- first_name: Brett H.
full_name: Pogostin, Brett H.
last_name: Pogostin
- first_name: Adam C.
full_name: Farsheed, Adam C.
last_name: Farsheed
- first_name: Joseph W.R.
full_name: Swain, Joseph W.R.
last_name: Swain
- first_name: Thi H.
full_name: Bui, Thi H.
last_name: Bui
- first_name: Arghadip
full_name: Dey, Arghadip
last_name: Dey
- first_name: Jonathan T.
full_name: Makhoul, Jonathan T.
last_name: Makhoul
- first_name: Marija
full_name: Dubackic, Marija
last_name: Dubackic
- first_name: Antara
full_name: Pal, Antara
last_name: Pal
- first_name: Ulf
full_name: Olsson, Ulf
last_name: Olsson
- first_name: Anđela
full_name: Šarić, Anđela
id: bf63d406-f056-11eb-b41d-f263a6566d8b
last_name: Šarić
orcid: 0000-0002-7854-2139
- first_name: Edward H.
full_name: Egelman, Edward H.
last_name: Egelman
- first_name: Jeffrey D.
full_name: Hartgerink, Jeffrey D.
last_name: Hartgerink
citation:
ama: Cole CC, Kreutzberger MAB, Klein K, et al. Supramolecular assembly of collagen-mimetic
eptide D-periodic fibrils and nanoassemblies. Biomacromolecules. 2026;27(4):2956-2965.
doi:10.1021/acs.biomac.6c00345
apa: Cole, C. C., Kreutzberger, M. A. B., Klein, K., Cahue, K. A., Pogostin, B.
H., Farsheed, A. C., … Hartgerink, J. D. (2026). Supramolecular assembly of collagen-mimetic
eptide D-periodic fibrils and nanoassemblies. Biomacromolecules. American
Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.6c00345
chicago: Cole, Carson C., Mark A.B. Kreutzberger, Kevin Klein, Kiana A. Cahue, Brett
H. Pogostin, Adam C. Farsheed, Joseph W.R. Swain, et al. “Supramolecular Assembly
of Collagen-Mimetic Eptide D-Periodic Fibrils and Nanoassemblies.” Biomacromolecules.
American Chemical Society, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.6c00345.
ieee: C. C. Cole et al., “Supramolecular assembly of collagen-mimetic eptide
D-periodic fibrils and nanoassemblies,” Biomacromolecules, vol. 27, no.
4. American Chemical Society, pp. 2956–2965, 2026.
ista: Cole CC, Kreutzberger MAB, Klein K, Cahue KA, Pogostin BH, Farsheed AC, Swain
JWR, Bui TH, Dey A, Makhoul JT, Dubackic M, Pal A, Olsson U, Šarić A, Egelman
EH, Hartgerink JD. 2026. Supramolecular assembly of collagen-mimetic eptide D-periodic
fibrils and nanoassemblies. Biomacromolecules. 27(4), 2956–2965.
mla: Cole, Carson C., et al. “Supramolecular Assembly of Collagen-Mimetic Eptide
D-Periodic Fibrils and Nanoassemblies.” Biomacromolecules, vol. 27, no.
4, American Chemical Society, 2026, pp. 2956–65, doi:10.1021/acs.biomac.6c00345.
short: C.C. Cole, M.A.B. Kreutzberger, K. Klein, K.A. Cahue, B.H. Pogostin, A.C.
Farsheed, J.W.R. Swain, T.H. Bui, A. Dey, J.T. Makhoul, M. Dubackic, A. Pal, U.
Olsson, A. Šarić, E.H. Egelman, J.D. Hartgerink, Biomacromolecules 27 (2026) 2956–2965.
date_created: 2026-04-19T22:07:46Z
date_published: 2026-04-13T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-05-06T05:43:44Z
day: '13'
department:
- _id: AnSa
doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.6c00345
intvolume: ' 27'
issue: '4'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.15.637692
month: '04'
oa: 1
oa_version: Preprint
page: 2956-2965
publication: Biomacromolecules
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1526-4602
publication_status: published
publisher: American Chemical Society
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Supramolecular assembly of collagen-mimetic eptide D-periodic fibrils and nanoassemblies
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 27
year: '2026'
...