Expression and purification of reflectin protein in doryteuthis pealeii

• Main Author: Chin, Kei Lin
• Other Authors: Ali Gilles Tchenguise Miserez
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75410
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

There has been much interest in the pursuit of achieving the ‘Invisibility Cloak’ in the material science world. Pushing the boundaries of camouflaging beyond the visible spectrum, near infrared camouflaging and ultraviolet light camouflaging have been the new common hot topics, especially in the defense industry. The current technologies however, are limited by the ideas in designing such devices that are dynamic and robust in the implementations. Successful camouflaging is the most evident in animals that are capable of adopting mimicry by blending in with the environment to avoid detection from their prey and predators. More advanced levels of camouflaging in some animals include actively changing of the color, texture and brightness of their coverings. These are commonly observed in the changes of the color by chameleons and the change in color and texture of octopuses’ skin. There has been much ongoing research in the attempt to design tunable devices that are capable of achieving dynamic near infrared camouflaging capabilities from drawing inspirations from such animals. Undetectable near infrared products in the form of reflectin coatings for adhesive stickers [1], thin films [2-4], and peltic plates [5] have been designed to avoid near infrared detection. However, these biomimetic researches have been successful in implementing passive camouflaging and more has to be done for future active and dynamic implementations in large scale defense applications. In this paper, background studies on the biological mechanisms, specifically spectral iridescence, that Cephalopods order (a family of octopuses, squids and cuttlefishes) uses in active mimicry would be the core of discussion. Experiments to optimize the expression and purification of recombinant reflectin protein extracted from the LongFin InShore Squid (Doryteuthis Pealeii) was done to provide a comprehensive methodology in producing high yields of pure reflectin. Research time would be saved in characterizing the properties and capabilities of reflectin devices fabricated, bringing closer to the future of developing active camouflaging devices.