Cover Image. Issue 10 (25th October 2022) - Unknown
Abstract : Elastin‐like peptides (ELPs) are thermoresponsive biopolymers inspired by the characteristic repetitive sequences of natural elastin; they show promise as drug carriers. Takeru Nose and co‐workers report the effect of amino acid substitution on the self‐assembly of the short ELP (FPGVG)5 and its analogues. Substituting or introducing an amino acid that increases the bulkiness of the N ‐terminal is seen to enhance the self‐assembling ability of (FPGVG)5 analogues, likely because of hydrophobicity‐induced intermolecular interactions. Substituting a single Phe residue drastically changes the temperature responsiveness of the analogues, suggesting that aromatic amino acids play an important role in the self‐assembly of these systems. DOI: 10.1002/bip.23521