Design of a thermostable cell adhesion protein

The design principle of a thermostable functional protein has been proposed by demonstrating genetic engineering synthesis of a thermostable cell adhesion protein. The cell adhesive peptide sequence, Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD), was incorporated into the elastin-based polyhexapeptide, whose repeating unit is Ala-Pro-Gly-Val-Gly-Val (APGVGV). The resulting protein possesses cell adhesion activity approximately 80% of fibronectin. After autoclaving at 120°C for 20 min, the protein retained over 90% of cell adhesion activity, while the activity of autoclaved fibronectin decreased to 50%.