Establishing a Periodic Table Toolbox for Nanoassembly and Superselectivity

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Synthetic biology refers to taking an engineering approach to biology, allowing biological building blocks to be assembled and function in a controlled and predictable way. Synthetic biology has potential to generate major changes in areas including energy, healthcare and agriculture. Proteins are powerful tools in synthetic biology because of their diverse activities, including catalysing reactions and sensing changes in their environment. Our group has established a specific unbreakable way to connect proteins, from harnessing an unusual protein chemistry from bacteria. The periodic table of protein architectures helps to understand the symmetry of how proteins can come together into teams. The toolbox we develop here will make it possible, simply by mixing with the appropriate partner, to assemble a protein into teams ranging from 2 to 720 members and over a wide size range. Teamwork matters, even at the molecular level, so this assembly will enable tuning of how proteins bind, signal and move in living systems. Many therapies depend upon distinguishing between healthy cells with some level of a receptor versus unhealthy cells having higher receptor levels. Normally it is difficult to generate drugs to kill the unhealthy cells without toxic side-effects from the drug also sticking to many healthy cells. Superselectivity is a principle established on non-living systems that could reduce these side-effects. Here we will harness the new protein teams so we can find out how to achieve superselectivity on living cells.