Non-equilibrium nature of two-dimensional isotropic and nematic coexistence in amyloid fibrils at liquid interfaces

Sophia Jordens, Lucio Isa, Ivan Usov and Raffaele Mezzenga ()
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Sophia Jordens: ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Food & Soft Materials
Lucio Isa: ETH Zurich, Laboratory for Surface Science & Technology
Ivan Usov: ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Food & Soft Materials
Raffaele Mezzenga: ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Food & Soft Materials

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Two-dimensional alignment of shape-anisotropic colloids is ubiquitous in nature, ranging from interfacial virus assembly to amyloid plaque formation. The principles governing two-dimensional self-assembly have therefore long been studied, both theoretically and experimentally, leading, however, to diverging fundamental interpretations on the nature of the two-dimensional isotropic–nematic phase transition. Here we employ single-molecule atomic force microscopy, cryogenic scanning electron microscopy and passive probe particle tracking to study the adsorption and liquid crystalline ordering of semiflexible β-lactoglobulin fibrils at liquid interfaces. Fibrillar rigidity changes on increasing interfacial density, with a maximum caused by alignment and a subsequent decrease stemming from crowding and domain bending. Coexistence of nematic and isotropic regions is resolved and quantified by a length scale-dependent order parameter S2D(d). The nematic surface fraction increases with interfacial fibril density, but depends, for a fixed interfacial density, on the initial bulk concentration, ascribing the observed two-dimensional isotropic–nematic coexistence to non-equilibrium phenomena.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2911

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