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Title: Designing and defining dynamic protein cage nanoassemblies in solution

Journal Article · · Science Advances
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). UCLA-DOE Inst. for Genomics and Proteomics
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Texas, Houston, TX (United States). MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Oncology
  5. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). UCLA-DOE Inst. for Genomics and Proteomics; Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). California NanoSystems Inst.
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Central challenges in the design of large and dynamic macromolecular assemblies for synthetic biology lie in developing effective methods for testing design strategies and their outcomes, including comprehensive assessments of solution behavior. Here, we created and validated an advanced design of a 600-kDa protein homododecamer that self-assembles into a symmetric tetrahedral cage. The monomeric unit is composed of a trimerizing apex-forming domain genetically linked to an edge-forming dimerizing domain. Enhancing the crystallographic results, high-throughput small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) comprehensively contrasted our modifications under diverse solution conditions. To generate a phase diagram associating structure and assembly, we developed force plots that measure dissimilarity among multiple SAXS data sets. These new tools, which provided effective feedback on experimental constructs relative to design, have general applicability in analyzing the solution behavior of heterogeneous nanosystems and have been made available as a web-based application. Specifically, our results probed the influence of solution conditions and symmetry on stability and structural adaptability, identifying the dimeric interface as the weak point in the assembly. Force plots comparing SAXS data sets further reveal more complex and controllable behavior in solution than captured by our crystal structures. Lastly, these methods for objectively and comprehensively comparing SAXS profiles for systems critically affected by solvent conditions and structural heterogeneity provide an enabling technology for advancing the design and bioengineering of nanoscale biological materials.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC02-06CH11357; CHE-1332907; FC02-02ER63421
OSTI ID:
1409425
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Vol. 2, Issue 12; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 37 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (7)

Rational Design of Supramolecular Dynamic Protein Assemblies by Using a Micelle-Assisted Activity-Based Protein-Labeling Technology journal October 2018
Small angle X-ray scattering and cross-linking for data assisted protein structure prediction in CASP 12 with prospects for improved accuracy journal February 2018
A review on virus protein self-assembly journal November 2019
Design of coiled-coil protein-origami cages that self-assemble in vitro and in vivo journal October 2017
Engineering protein assemblies with allosteric control via monomer fold-switching journal December 2019
Bioengineering Strategies for Protein-Based Nanoparticles journal July 2018
Modeling Symmetric Macromolecular Structures in Rosetta3 journal June 2011

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Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Protein Design
Self-assembly
symmetry
protein dynamics
conformational change
SAXS
macromolecular crystallography