CENTER FOR THE SCIENCE OF
SYNTHESIS ACROSS SCALES
Solvent Forces and Broken Symmetry Guide Protein Assembly
​
June 16, 2026
Protein nanorods assemble from solution onto a crystal surface into a highly ordered two-dimensional array called a smectic phase. An asymmetry in the underlying crystal lattice distorts the symmetry of the interfacial solvent, which in turn introduces a bias into the potential energy landscape that guides assembly into the rows of coaligned nanorods.
Scientific Achievement
-
​Discovered that a slight solvent-imposed bias in the orientational potential energy landscape seen by protein nanorods assembling at a liquid-solid interface stabilizes a highly ordered phase not otherwise stable in two dimensions.​
​​
​Significance and Impact
-
The results demonstrate that symmetry elements of external potentials arising from solvent forces must be incorporated into A.I.-based protein design platforms to achieve accurate predictions of the resulting protein-materials interface.​​
​
Research Details
-
High-speed, molecularly resolved atomic force microscopy recorded trajectories of protein assembly on mica surfaces.
-
Machine learning quantified the statistics of ordering, which was compared to the predictions of Monte Carlo simulations for symmetric and asymmetric potential energy landscapes.
Schmid, SY., B. Helfrecht, A. B.A. Legg, H. Pyles, J. Chen, J.R. Edison, M. Ziatdinov, Z. Preisler, O. Dollar, S. Whitelam, S.V. Kalinin, D. Baker, C.J. Mundy, S. Zhang, and J.J. De Yoreo (2026). Impact of solvent forces and broken symmetry on the assembly of designed proteins at a liquid-solid interface. Nat Commun, 17 (1): 2446. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69170-0
​
Work was performed at Molecular Foundry, L.awrence Berkeley Nat’l Lab