Bioprospecting in high temperature environments; application of thermostable protein cages

Ferritin as a Platform for Creating Antiviral Mosaic Nanocages: Prospects for Treating COVID‐19

“…There is a growing interest in application of ferritin nanocage in bio-nanotechnology and medicine. [92][93][94][95][96] This is potentially for three reasons: i) the nanocage is naturally present in the serum and thus, its biomedical use is expected to cause less toxicity than synthetic nanoparticles. ii) The structural features of ferritin offer many possibilities for protein engineering and creating an array of therapeutics.…”

“…There is a growing interest in application of ferritin nanocage in bio‐nanotechnology and medicine [92–96] . This is potentially for three reasons:…”

Layered crystals of apo‐ and holoferritin grown by alternating crystallization

“…In neutral solutions, pH = 7, horse spleen apoferritin is stable till 93 °C [4]. There are several other thermostable ferritins [5]. A recently discovered ferritin from hyperthermophilic archaeal anaerobe Pyrococcus furiosis [6] withstands incubation at 100 °C for 1 day (or autoclaving at 120 °C for half an hour) retaining its activity for the process from Fe(II) binding to ferrihydrate core formation [7].…”

“…The inherent stability of the ferritin organic shell may have some value in biotechnology. For instance, the cavity of the apoferritin molecule can be filled by various inorganic cores, different from iron-based substances [5,8]. Analogous viral capsids that serve as carriers for imaging (and therapeutic) agents have shown a definite medical potential as vehicles for targeted substance delivery [5].…”

Biomimetic synthesis of photoactive α-Fe2O3templated by the hyperthermophilic ferritin from Pyrococus furiosus

“…Isolation of protein templates from thermophilic and hyperthermophilic organisms is one approach which might ease this limitation. 32,33 The isolation and synthetic utilization of a number of thermally stable proteins such as ferritins, 34 heat shock proteins, 35 and DNA-binding proteins from starved cells 32,36 from hyperthermophilic archaea have significantly expanded the temperature range for in vitro biomimetic synthesis.…”