Nature:多组分蛋白的定制

蛋白的自组装，对于材料学家来说是一个诱人的前景。作为在这个方向上所迈出的一步，David Baker及同事建立了一个计算方法，可被用来设计蛋白纳米材料，在其中两个不同的亚单元共聚成一个特定的架构。他们用该方法设计了5种由24个亚单元组成的笼状蛋白纳米材料，并通过实验演示：这些材料的结构与计算设计模型非常一致。该方法的准确性以及它帮助打开大门的二组分材料领域，为设计针对特定应用量身定制的功能蛋白纳米材料铺平了道路。

原文链接：Accurate design of co-assembling multi-component protein nanomaterials

Abstract:The self-assembly of proteins into highly ordered nanoscale architectures is a hallmark of biological systems. The sophisticated functions of these molecular machines have inspired the development of methods to engineer self-assembling protein nanostructures; however, the design of multi-component protein nanomaterials with high accuracy remains an outstanding challenge. Here we report a computational method for designing protein nanomaterials in which multiple copies of two distinct subunits co-assemble into a specific architecture. We use the method to design five 24-subunit cage-like protein nanomaterials in two distinct symmetric architectures and experimentally demonstrate that their structures are in close agreement with the computational design models. The accuracy of the method and the number and variety of two-component materials that it makes accessible suggest a route to the construction of functional protein nanomaterials tailored to specific applications.