Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5025, United States.
J Biotechnol. 2011 Jul 20;154(4):230-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2011.04.011. Epub 2011 Apr 23.
Virus-like particles (VLPs) consist of a virus's outer shell but without the genome. Similar to the virus, VLPs are monodisperse nano-capsules which have a known morphology, maintain a high degree of symmetry, and can be engineered to encapsidate the desired cargo. VLPs are of great interest for vaccination, drug/gene delivery, imaging, sensing, and material science applications. Here we demonstrate the ability to control the disulfide bond formation in VLPs by directly controlling the redox potential during or after production and assembly of VLPs. The open cell-free protein synthesis environment, which has been reported to produce VLPs at yields comparable or greater than traditional in vivo technologies, was employed. Optimal conditions for disulfide bond formation were found to be VLP dependent, and a cooperative effect in the formation of such bonds was observed.
病毒样颗粒（VLPs）由病毒的外壳组成，但不含基因组。与病毒类似，VLPs 是单分散的纳米胶囊，具有已知的形态，保持高度的对称性，并可被设计成封装所需的货物。VLPs 在疫苗接种、药物/基因传递、成像、传感和材料科学应用中具有很大的兴趣。在这里，我们展示了通过在生产和组装 VLPs 过程中或之后直接控制氧化还原电位来控制 VLPs 中二硫键形成的能力。采用了开放的无细胞蛋白质合成环境，该环境已被报道可产生与传统体内技术相当或更高的 VLPs 产量。发现二硫键形成的最佳条件取决于 VLP，并观察到这种键形成的协同效应。
