The hydrophobicity of vertebrate elastins

An evolutionary trend towards increasing hydrophobicity of vertebrate arterial elastins suggests that there is an adaptive advantage to higher hydrophobicity. The swelling and dynamic mechanical properties of elastins from several species were measured to test whether hydrophobicity is associated with mechanical performance. Hydrophobicity was quantified according to amino acid composition (HI), and two behaviour-based indices: the Flory-Huggins solvent interaction parameter (chi1), and a swelling index relating tissue volumes at 60 and 1 degrees C. Swelling index values correlated with chi1 and, for most species studied, with HI, suggesting that the different approaches used to quantify hydrophobicity are equally valid. Dynamic mechanical properties were measured both in a closed system, to control the effects of water content, and in an open system, to determine whether the increased swelling of hydrophobic materials at low temperatures offsets the direct stiffening effect of cold. There were no biologically significant differences in mechanical behaviour in either open or closed systems that could be attributed to hydrophobicity. Therefore, although the original function of hydrophobicity in an ancestral elastin may have been to produce molecular mobility, mechanical performance did not drive a subsequent increase in hydrophobicity. Higher hydrophobicities may have arisen to facilitate the manufacture of the elastic fibre.