Cerato-ulmin (CU) is a fungal toxin class II hydrophobin, involved in Dutch elm disease. The formation of hydrophobin films at the air–water interface is a key mechanism which plays a role of paramount importance at different stages of the fungal development. We present a study on the precursor stages of growth towards the self-assembly aggregation film of CU. Atomic force microscopy images of CU dropped on mica substrates indicate that the system self-organizes in almost one-dimensional pearl-necklace-like chains, which subsequently collapse and possibly merge to form extended and rather compact planar films. We propose and verify a simple model to describe the self-aggregation mechanism in terms of progressive thickening of the pearl chains due to the successive merging and collapse of the elementary constitutive units.

Progressive pearl necklace collapse mechanism for cerato-ulmin aggregation film / F. Sbrana; D. Fanelli; M. Vassalli; L. Carresi; A. Scala; L. Pazzagli; G. Cappugi; B. Tiribilli.. - In: EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS. - ISSN 0175-7571. - ELETTRONICO. - 39:(2010), pp. 971-977. [10.1007/s00249-009-0465-6]

Progressive pearl necklace collapse mechanism for cerato-ulmin aggregation film

SBRANA, FRANCESCA;FANELLI, DUCCIO;VASSALLI, MASSIMO;SCALA, ANIELLO;PAZZAGLI, LUIGIA;CAPPUGI, GIANNI;
2010

Abstract

Cerato-ulmin (CU) is a fungal toxin class II hydrophobin, involved in Dutch elm disease. The formation of hydrophobin films at the air–water interface is a key mechanism which plays a role of paramount importance at different stages of the fungal development. We present a study on the precursor stages of growth towards the self-assembly aggregation film of CU. Atomic force microscopy images of CU dropped on mica substrates indicate that the system self-organizes in almost one-dimensional pearl-necklace-like chains, which subsequently collapse and possibly merge to form extended and rather compact planar films. We propose and verify a simple model to describe the self-aggregation mechanism in terms of progressive thickening of the pearl chains due to the successive merging and collapse of the elementary constitutive units.
2010
39
971
977
F. Sbrana; D. Fanelli; M. Vassalli; L. Carresi; A. Scala; L. Pazzagli; G. Cappugi; B. Tiribilli.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
2010 - Eur Biophys J.pdf

Accesso chiuso

Tipologia: Versione finale referata (Postprint, Accepted manuscript)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati
Dimensione 450.58 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
450.58 kB Adobe PDF   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/363373
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 4
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 4
social impact