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Title: Purification and Characterization of Protein Nanotubes Assembled from a Single Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Subunit

Journal Article · · Advanced Materials Interfaces
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab.
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab.; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) are apparently icosahedral proteinaceous organelles that are bioinformatically identified in an increasing number of bacterial species. BMCs are delimited by a protein shell composed predominantly of hexameric (BMC-H) subunits that tile into the facets of the BMC shell. Here we report a new biomaterial composed of the single BMC-H protein encoded in the BMC locus of Mycobacterium smegmatis; the function of this type of BMC is unknown. When expressed in Escherichia coli, this BMC-H protein, RmmH, self-assembles into nanotubes, densely packed in the cytoplasmic space. These are the first BMC nanotubes to be purified from cells intact and characterized. Here, we also show formation of the nanotubes initiated from free RmmH hexamers in vitro. Based on the dimensions of the nanotubes and modeling of the RmmH hexamer, we propose two possible structural models. BMC nanotubes offer a new spatial architecture both in vivo and in vitro, composed of a single protein that may be genetically or chemically modified and for use as tubular scaffolding.

Research Organization:
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR). Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-91ER20021
OSTI ID:
1714342
Journal Information:
Advanced Materials Interfaces, Vol. 3, Issue 1; ISSN 2196-7350
Publisher:
Wiley-VCHCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Bio‐Assisted Tailored Synthesis of Plasmonic Silver Nanorings and Site‐Selective Deposition on Graphene Arrays journal December 2019
Building a toolbox of protein scaffolds for future immobilization of biocatalysts journal July 2018
Self-Assembly Stability and Variability of Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Proteins in Response to the Environmental Change journal February 2019
Functionalization of Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Proteins With Covalently Attached Heme journal January 2020
Bacterial microcompartments journal March 2018
Engineered synthetic scaffolds for organizing proteins within the bacterial cytoplasm journal December 2017
Bacterial Microcompartments journal October 2010

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
nanotube
bacterial microcompartment
Mycobacterium smegmatis
scaffold
nanotechnology