Calcium-Induced Molecular Rearrangement of Peptide Folds Enables Biomineralization of Vaterite Calcium Carbonate

Proteins can control mineralization of CaCO₃ by selectively triggering the growth of calcite, aragonite or vaterite phases. The templating of CaCO₃ by proteins must occur predominantly at the protein/CaCO₃ interface, however molecular-level insights into the interface during active mineralization have been lacking. Here, we investigate the role of peptide folding and structural flexibility on the mineralization of CaCO₃. We study amphiphilic peptides based on glutamic acid and leucine with beta sheet and alpha helical secondary structures. While both sequences lead to vaterite structures, the beta sheets yield free-standing vaterite nanosheet with superior stability and purity. Surface-specific spectroscopy studies and molecular dynamics simulations of these 10’s of microns large peptide-vaterite sheets reveal that the interaction of calcium ions with the peptide monolayer restructures both the peptide backbone and side chains. This restructuring enables effective templating of vaterite by mimicry of the vaterite (001) crystal plane. The results demonstrate the importance of interfacial processes for biomineralization and biomimetic peptide design.