Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2011 Jul 31;6(9):558-62. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2011.122.
The self-assembly of supramolecular structures that are ordered on the nanometre scale is a key objective in nanotechnology. DNA and peptide nanotechnologies have produced various two- and three-dimensional structures, but protein molecules have been underexploited in this area of research. Here we show that the genetic fusion of subunits from protein assemblies that have matching rotational symmetry generates species that can self-assemble into well-ordered, pre-determined one- and two-dimensional arrays that are stabilized by extensive intermolecular interactions. This new class of supramolecular structure provides a way to manufacture biomaterials with diverse structural and functional properties.
自组装纳米尺度有序的超分子结构是纳米技术的一个主要目标。DNA 和肽纳米技术已经产生了各种二维和三维结构，但在这一研究领域，蛋白质分子的应用还不够广泛。在这里，我们表明，来自具有匹配旋转对称性的蛋白质组装的亚基的基因融合产生了能够自组装成具有广泛分子间相互作用稳定的有序、预定的一维和二维阵列的物种。这种新的超分子结构类提供了一种制造具有多种结构和功能特性的生物材料的方法。
