Exploring the Morphogenesis of Omniphobic Nano-Ornamentations on the Springtail Cuticle

• Applicants: Professorin Yael Politi, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Carsten Werner
• Subject Area: Polymeric and Biogenic Materials and Derived Composites
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 570061627

Wetting resistance (omniphobicity) is a highly desired material property in all-day life, industry, medicine or marine and aviation applications. Omniphobicity enables machines and tools to remain dry, clean and functional for longer periods, extends shelf times of food and reduces transmission of germs on surfaces. For many years, researchers have proposed various top-down approaches to create omniphobic surfaces, but none have been scalable or economically viable for large-area coatings. Springtails (Collembola), close relatives of insects, have adopted to life on landwith a respiration through their body surface. This requires a priori a strongly repellant cuticle, which is achieved by nano-scale surface architecture. The responsible structures possess mushroom-like overhanging cross-sections, a structure shape which is known for its ability to endow omniphobicity. This structure is embedded in a grid-like ornamentation which furthermore promotes mechanical resistance. Previous research has shown that the entire omniphobic nano-ornamentation is associated with the topmost proteinaceous epicuticle, rather than the chitin layers below. However, the underlying biological morphogenesis of these structures is not yet clarified despite its potential in informing a scalable bottom-up process. The proposed project aims to identify the structural proteins involved in the formation of this structure and elucidate the spatio-temporal morphogenic processes. To achieve this, we will employ advanced imaging techniques, transcriptomic and proteomic analyses, and diverse spectroscopic methods. In parallel, we will use high-throughput screening, supported by a design of experiment approach and multivariate statistical analysis, to effectively reverse-engineer the structure formation using recombinant proteins in vitro. Our main hypothesis predicts that morphogenesis is based on Turing's reaction-diffusion theory, involving the interplay between a fast-diffusing lipid phase and a slow-diffusing protein phase during cuticular renewal within the moulting cycle. Modeling and simulation will accompany the in vitro experiments, allowing for feedback between experiment and simulation to confirm or disprove model assumptions and adjustments, such as diffusion parameters or phase ratios. This project not only aims to elucidate the unknown morphogenetic processes in the epicuticle of arthropods in general but also represents the first step towards translating this knowledge into synthetic self-assembling omniphobic interfaces.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants