Patent ID: 7381789

Claim:
A method of forming an inorganic structure, comprising: providing a substrate having a repeat protein polymer thereon, said repeat protein polymer having the formula: T y [(A) x (B) b (A′) x′ (B′) b (A″) x″ ] i T′ y′ wherein: T and T′ are amino acid sequences of from about 1 to about 100 amino acids, which may be any sequence comprising fewer than about 20% of the total number of amino acids in the repeat protein polymer, y and y′ are 0 or 1; T′ and y′ are the same as or different from T and y respectively; A, A′, and A″ are individual units of a repeat amino acid sequence selected from SGAGAG (G=glycine; A=alanine; S=serine)(SEQ ID NO: 1), GVGVP (V=valine; P=proline)(SEQ ID NO: 3), GGFGGMGGGx (F=phenylalanine; M=methionine)(SEQ ID NO: 4), (GPGGG)(SEQ ID NO: 5), PGQGQQ (SEQ ID NO: 6), GYYPTSPQQ (SEQ ID NO: 7), GQQ (Q=glutamine; Y=tyrosine; T=threonine)(SEQ ID NO: 8), PPAKVPEVPKKPVPEEKVPVPVPKKPEA (K=Lysine, E=Glutamic Acid) (SEQ ID NO: 9), SPPPPSPKYVYK (SEQ ID NO: 10), and RGDS (R=arginine; D=aspartic acid)(SEQ ID NO: 11), PQQPY (SEQ ID NO: 12), PTTTK (SEQ ID NO: 13), AGYGSTGT (SEQ ID NO: 14), YGGSSGGG (SEQ ID NO: 15), FGGGS (SEQ ID NO: 16), TTTPDV (SEQ ID NO: 17), YSPTSPS (SEQ ID NO: 18), and combinations thereof where x, x′, and x″ are integers of at least 1 which vary with the number of different amino acids in A, A′, and A″ so as to provide for at least 30 amino acids in each A, A′, and A″ repeat sequence; where A′, and x′ are the same as or different from A, and x respectively, at least one being different; where A″, and x″ are the same as or different from A, and x respectively, at least one being different; B and B′ are any amino acid sequences of about 4 to about 50 amino acids; b and b′ are 0 to3; B′ and b′ are the same as or different from B and b respectively; and i is 1 to 100; and exposing said substrate to a precursor comprising an inorganic species, wherein said inorganic species is selected from the group consisting of silicon, zirconium, silver, copper, cadmium, tantalum, yttrium, iron, titanium, cobalt, calcium, and combinations thereof, such that said repeat protein polymer catalyzes the formation of an inorganic structure on said substrate.