Fig. 8: Overview of NT gelation.

NT is soluble, α-helical and stable at low concentrations (μM) and at 37 °C. At the same temperature but at increased concentrations (>10 mg/mL), NT forms gels composed of amyloid-like fibrils. Also NT fusion proteins form fibrillar gels with intact function of the fusion moiety, which makes it possible to use NT for immobilization of various proteins in three dimensional hydrogels. Lower panel: NT (PDB: 4FBS) and illustrations of the fibrillar network and associated protein structures (hypothetical and not to scale, GFP PDB: 2B3Q, 10.2210/pdb2B3Q/pdb; PNP PDB: 4RJ2, 10.2210/pdb4RJ2/pdb).