Chemically induced protein cage assembly with programmable opening and cargo release. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Engineered protein cages are promising tools that can be customized for applications in medicine and nanotechnology. A major challenge is developing a straightforward strategy for endowing cages with bespoke, inducible disassembly. Such cages would allow release of encapsulated cargoes at desired timing and location. Here, we achieve such programmable disassembly using protein cages, in which the subunits are held together by different molecular cross-linkers. This modular system enables cage disassembly to be controlled in a condition-dependent manner. Structural details of the resulting cages were determined using cryo–electron microscopy, which allowed observation of bridging cross-linkers at intended positions. Triggered disassembly was demonstrated by high-speed atomic force microscopy and subsequent cargo release using an encapsulated Förster resonance energy transfer pair whose signal depends on the quaternary structure of the cage.

publication date

  • January 5, 2022

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC8730398

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85122879623

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1088/978-1-6817-4664-7

PubMed ID

  • 34985943

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 8

issue

  • 1