Progressive pearl necklace collapse mechanism for cerato-ulmin aggregation film

Sbrana, F., Fanelli, D., Vassalli, M. , Carresi, L., Scala, A., Pazzagli, L., Cappugi, G. and Tiribilli, B. (2010) Progressive pearl necklace collapse mechanism for cerato-ulmin aggregation film. European Biophysics Journal with Biophysics Letters, 39, pp. 971-977. (doi: 10.1007/s00249-009-0465-6) (PMID:19471919)

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.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Vassalli, Professor Massimo
• Authors: Sbrana, F., Fanelli, D., Vassalli, M., Carresi, L., Scala, A., Pazzagli, L., Cappugi, G., and Tiribilli, B.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: European Biophysics Journal with Biophysics Letters
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0175-7571
• ISSN (Online): 1432-1017