A virus-based biocatalyst

Abstract

Virus particles are probably the most precisely defined nanometre-sized objects that can be formed by protein self-assembly. Although their natural function is the storage and transport of genetic material, they have more recently been applied as scaffolds for mineralization and as containers for the encapsulation of inorganic compounds. The reproductive power of viruses has been used to develop versatile analytical methods, such as phage display, for the selection and identification of (bio)active compounds. To date, the combined use of self-assembly and reproduction has not been used for the construction of catalytic systems. Here we describe a self-assembled system based on a plant virus that has its coat protein genetically modified to provide it with a lipase enzyme. Using single-object and bulk catalytic studies, we prove that the virus-anchored lipase molecules are catalytically active. This anchored biocatalyst, unlike man-made supported catalysts, has the capability to reproduce itself in vivo, generating many independent catalytically active copies.

A virus-based single-enzyme nanoreactor

“…In recent reports, protein capsids and viruses have been studied as containers, as potential reaction vessels [5][6][7][8] , as well-defined hosts [9][10][11][12] , as nanotemplates [13][14][15][16][17][18] and as synthetic platforms [19][20][21] . To the best of our knowledge, no enzyme-loaded nanocontainer has been assembled, let alone studied, at the single-enzyme level.…”

Viruses and virus-like protein assemblies—Chemically programmable nanoscale building blocks

“…This strategy has also been employed to encapsulate horseradish peroxidase enzymes, where a single enzyme reactor was constructed and the activities were studied at the single-molecule level [116,117].…”

Production of Immunoabsorbent Nanoparticles by Displaying Single‐Domain Protein A on Potato Virus X

“…We established bioconjugation protocols targeting surface-exposed lysines using N-hydroxysuccinimide or Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (click chemistry) enabling efficient functionalization of PVX with biotin linkers, fluorophores, PEG, targeting ligands, etc. [12][13][14][15] To date PVX has been used for epitope presentation approaches in vaccine development; [9,16] chimeric PVX particles have also been combined with enzymes for the fabrication of novel biocatalysts, [17] and PVX is undergoing development as a novel carrier for oncological imaging and therapeutic intervention. [12][13][14][15] To extend the application of PVX, we set out to combine the platform technology with protein A fragments for functionalization for antibodies.…”