Conversion of the Native 24‐mer Ferritin Nanocage into Its Non‐Native 16‐mer Analogue by Insertion of Extra Amino Acid Residues

• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201609517
• Publication Date: 2016-11-25T07:03:34Z
• Authors: Shengli Zhang; Jiachen Zang; Wenming Wang; Hai Chen; Xiaorong Zhang; Fudi Wang; Hongfei Wang; Guanghua Zhao
• Keywords: Nanocages; Protein Engineering

Protein assemblies with high symmetry are widely distributed in nature. Most efforts so far have focused on repurposing these protein assemblies, a strategy that is ultimately limited by the structures available. To overcome this limitation, methods for fabricating novel self-assembling proteins received intensive interest. Herein, reengineering key subunit interfaces of native 24-mer cage octahedral through amino acid residues insertion, we fabricated 16-mer lenticular nanocage whose structure unique among all known cages. This newly non-native can be used encapsulation bioactive compounds and exhibits uptake efficiency cancer cells. More importantly, above could applied to other naturally occurring symmetry, leading generation new unexplored functions.