Protein cages as building blocks for superstructures

Abstract

Proteins naturally self‐assemble to function. Protein cages result from the self‐assembly of multiple protein subunits that interact to form hollow symmetrical structures with functions that range from cargo storage to catalysis. Driven by self‐assembly, building elegant higher‐order superstructures with protein cages as building blocks has been an increasingly attractive field in recent years. It presents an engineering challenge not only at the molecular level but also at the supramolecular level. The higher‐order constructs are proposed to provide access to diverse functional materials. Focussing on design strategy as a perspective, current work on protein cage supramolecular self‐assembly are reviewed from three principles that are electrostatic, metal‐ligand coordination and inherent symmetry. The review also summarises possible applications of the superstructure architecture built using modified protein cages.

Virus-like particles nanoreactors: from catalysis towards bio-applications

“…140 Currently, covalent crosslinking, electrostatic interaction, and metal-ligand coordination have been employed to construct two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) structures. 141 Non-covalent interactions can provide particular value for controlled self-assembly and ordered patterning, owing to their dynamic nature and inherent flexibility. [141][142][143] On the other hand, the covalently linked higher-order assemblies demonstrate enhanced stability.…”

“…141 Non-covalent interactions can provide particular value for controlled self-assembly and ordered patterning, owing to their dynamic nature and inherent flexibility. [141][142][143] On the other hand, the covalently linked higher-order assemblies demonstrate enhanced stability. 144 The higher-order assembly of VLP-based nanoreactors in terms of catalysis has also been explored in recent years.…”

Ferritin cages as building blocks for higher-order assembly through copper–sulfur bonds for HER analysis

“…3 Utilizing chemical alteration, biotechnologies, or the combination of both strategies, modi-cations have been applied to construct versatile protein assemblies. 4 Proteins, as building blocks, have been assembled into superstructures via various methods. 1,2 These proteins are typically monomerica single subunit as the building block.…”

“…Protein cages have been proposed as building blocks for building higher-order structures owing to their structural consistency aer encapsulation, modication, or assembly with expandable functionalities across multiple length scales. 4 Protein cages are robust with symmetrical architectures comprising different numbers of subunits. 4 Among all categories of proteins, cage-like proteins have directed considerable research attention due to their versatile functions, including iron storage and mineralization of ferritins, 5 encapsidation and transportation of the genome of viral capsids, 6 and regulatory role of heat shock proteins.…”

“…4 Protein cages are robust with symmetrical architectures comprising different numbers of subunits. 4 Among all categories of proteins, cage-like proteins have directed considerable research attention due to their versatile functions, including iron storage and mineralization of ferritins, 5 encapsidation and transportation of the genome of viral capsids, 6 and regulatory role of heat shock proteins. 7 In addition, diverse functional groups on amino acid chains of protein cages offer more possibility for introducing varied interactions for distinct assemblies.…”