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The vast potential applications of biomolecules that bind inorganic surfaces led mostly to the isolation of short peptides that target selectively specific materials. The demonstrated differential affinity toward certain surfaces created the impression that the recognition capacity of short peptides may match that of rigid biomolecules. In the following, we challenge this view by comparing the capacity of antibody molecules to discriminate between the (100) and (111A) facets of a gallium arsenide semiconductor crystal with the capacity of short peptides to do the same. Applying selection from several peptide and single chain phage display libraries, we find a number of antibody molecules that bind preferentially a given crystal facet but fail to isolate, in dozens of attempts, a single peptide capable of such recognition. The experiments underscore the importance of rigidity to the recognition of inorganic flat targets and therefore set limitations on potential applications of short peptides in biomimetics.

Original publication

DOI

10.1002/psc.2636

Type

Journal article

Journal

J pept sci

Publication Date

06/2014

Volume

20

Pages

446 - 450

Keywords

antibody binding to inorganic surface, biomimic, molecular recognition, peptide binding to inorganic surface, phage display, Antibodies, Arsenicals, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Gallium, Oligopeptides, Semiconductors, Surface Properties